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CHAMPLAIN'S MONUMENT 



ANGLO-AMERICAN EDITION 



CHAMPLAIN 

A DRAMA IN THREE ACTS 

With an Introduction entitled 

Twenty Years And After 



XM. HAPvPEPv 



NEW YORK 

JOHN LANE COMPANY 

MCMIX 



Copyright, Canada, 1908, by 
John M Hahper 



TO 

DR. JAMES DOUGLAS 

AUTHOR OF 
■QUEBEC IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY" 



CONTENTS 



Page 
Twenty Years and After - - - - 9 

Champlain: A Drama in Three Acts - - - - - - 55 

Explanatory Notes 233 

Samuel de Champlain, the Explorer - - - - - - 267 



nI/ 



Twenty Years and After 

An Historical Sketch 



Twenty Years and After 



Thk first siege of Quebec, before and after, marks, 
as a world's record, the point of convergence of two 
distinct national or international lines of colonizing enter- 
prise. In order, ther'efore, to understand the period in 
its fullest importance — outside of its local acceptance as 
a chapter of early American history-=-we have to trace 
these lines, each by itself, the one from the founding of 
the New England colonies by the British and the Dutch, 
and the other from the earliest exploitation of Acadia and 
New France by the French and the British. 

There had been war between France and Britain, 
persevered in through the rivalries between Cardinal 
Richelieu, the Minister of Louis XIII., and the Duke of 
Buckingham, the Minister of Charles I., culminating, as 
it did, in the siege of Rochelle, in 1628. The first siege 
of Quebec took place in 1629. And, though peace had 
been declared between the two contending nations at the 
time when David Kirke, sailing under letters of marque 
from the king of England, arrived in the St. Lawrence 
to bid Champlain surrender his charge near Cape Dia- 
mond, neither Champlain nor Kirke had definite informa- 
tion of the declaration when the latter appeared before 
Quebec. Consequently, the taking of that place was, de 
jure, no other than an act of piracy, though the urbanity 
of the invader towards the besieged, and the easy terms 

9 



lo TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

of capitulation, indicate that the former was no pirate 
at heart, even at a time when there was little difference 
between privateering and piracy in their methods of 
attack and rapacity. 

The mixing up of joint-stock mercantile adventure 
with projects of colonization was the first of Canada's 
perplexities of rule. The trader, naturally looking for 
immediate returns and abnormal percentages, is instant 
enough in making advances to his adventurous agents, 
while promising trade centres are being located. This, 
however, continues only for a year or two. In the matter 
of colonization, the cupidity of investors and the cheese- 
paring of competition too often encourage a neglect of 
the means that make for the development of a country 
as a place of permanent abode. Even with the dividends 
at their highest, the trading adventurer is nearly always 
too eager to secure for himself alone the skimmings of 
the milk-pot. 

Nor is the pathway of Canadian progress ever likely 
to be rid ol this cupidity that would drain a country of 
its resources, for the sake of wealth to be invested or 
spent elsewhere than in Canada. Modern times bear 
witness to this caterpillar instinct of many of our 
capitalists, possibly preventing us from marvelling at 
the slow progress of New France at the time David 
Kirke demanded the surrender of its little hungry-eyed 
capital, while monopolist was striving with sub-trader 
and wage-earner for the best of the bargain. There 
were crumbs, it is true, that fell from the table of the 
monopolist, grudged as they were, for the benefit of 
colonization. In the words of Father Sagard, the big 
fish did not devour all the little fish. And it must not 
be forgotten that but for the monopolists, De Chaste 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER ii 

and De Monts, not to speak of the Company of Mer- 
chants, Champlain might never have been at the found- 
ing of Port Royal in Acadia, nor have been able to make 
the impress that he made upon the destinies of Canada. 

The story of that true colonizer's recurring voyages 
from Quebec to France is the history of the trading 
unrest of the monopoly-companies, which continued, 
during his time, to think more of their dividends than 
the building up of the country. The tribute they had 
agreed to pay to meet the fiscal necessities of the colony 
had not unfrequently to be wrung from them or their 
reluctant shareholders ; and Champlain had, therefore, 
to be in France almost as often as in Canada, to quicken 
indifference, and even at times to save his colonizing 
enterprise from utter collapse. 

When De Chaste died, De Monts had influence enough 
at the court of Henry IV. to secure his appointment as 
Lieutenant-General. His scheme of colonization in 
Acadia, which has a record of its own, had not met the 
success expected of it. Trading jealousies and religious 
antipathies seem to have been in league against its ad- 
vancement from the beginning ; and, but for the personal 
favour of the king, the De Monts' charter would perhaps 
not have been renewed, nor the colony at Quebec estab- 
lished so soon. After the assassination of the king, 
moreover, De Monts and his monopoly met with dis- 
credit. Merchants are seldom slow to seek their advan- 
tage in a rival's disadvantage. The fur trade, for a 
time, was all but ruined, from the rapacious inroads of 
numerous competitors in the race for wealth. And, 
when De Monts gave up the title of Lieutenant-General, 
which had become all but an empty one, his ever active 
deputy had to hasten over to France, to take counsel with 



12 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

Count de Soissons, Prince de Conde, and any other 
friends he could make, to secure a person of rank who 
was wilHng to assume the vacant office of Lieutenant- 
General. 

As an outcome, Count de Soissons himself was pre- 
vailed upon to accept the position ; but that nobleman's 
death, a few weeks after, left Champlain's work of 
reorganization all to be done over again. Then the 
Prince de Conde was induced to assume the office under 
the more pretentious title of Viceroy of New France, 
with Champlain for a deputy, as governor in Canada. 
The latter, under the new arrangement, had his position, 
as a servant of the Crown, more clearly defined, perhaps, 
but his task was still the same, of building up Tadousac, 
Quebec, and other trading posts with whatever share of 
the gains of the traders he could peaceably secure. It 
is never easy to collect tribute without the means of 
coercion. It is doubly difficult to impress the duty of 
paying tribute on those who have repeatedly defied the 
law.. Quebec's prestige, as a new place far from direct 
legal influences, was helpless to enforce the raising of a 
colonial revenue. For lack of funds the little capital 
made but little advance during its infancy ; and hence 
Champlain, in 1610, made the first of his many canvasses 
in France for the means of realizing better results in 
the colonization of Canada. 

The fruits of that canvass was the organization of a 
new trading company, under royal charter, as De Monts' 
had been. This new body was called the Company of 
Merchants. It comprised many of the richer traders of 
Dieppe, St. Malo, and Rouen, these agreeing to provide 
means for the immediate colonization of the country, if 
the queen-regent would discriminate in their favour as 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 13 

monopolists of the fur trade. In the name of the new 
company, the anxious Champlain promised to take out 
a relay of new settlers, when he next went back to 
Canada. Besides, the spiritual welfare of the new 
colony, he was to see, would be fostered at the hands of 
a contingent of the RecoUet Fathers, from whom the 
natives as well as the settlers would have religious and 
educational oversight. The mixing up of colonization 
and mercantile adventure was to have more of a trial 
than it had had under the privileges granted to De 
Monts. The sharing of the profits of the restored mon- 
opoly would relieve the Crown of any serious outlay, 
beyond the salary of the Viceroy and the expense con- 
nected with some little show of military defence. The 
colonizing of territory that already belonged to France 
involved no new political responsibility. The colonial 
prestige of France would be enhanced, without inter- 
national strife and its expense. The charter asked for 
was a fair deal with monopolists who were willing to 
pay tribute of their own choice. The proposal was a 
good thing for France, and an excellent thing for the 
new country. What more, therefore, could be said in its 
favour than that? And so, with many other political 
anxieties in the regency, the Crown gave way. Mary 
de Medicis sanctioned the new charter, the Company of 
Merchants thereby securing an eleven years' monopoly 
of the fur trade, under the Viceroyalty of the Prince of 
Conde. 

This legalizing of a trade monopoly provided no more 
of a bed of roses for colonization than it did under 
De Monts' charter. As things turned out, the carrying 
out of the mixed designs of Champlain and the Com- 
pany of Merchants was primarily interrupted by the 



14 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

cloud which fell upon the Viceroy's personal affairs. 
After the Prince of Conde's marriage with a Mont- 
morenci, he had had many unhappy experiences at the 
French court, having eventually been obliged to flee with 
his wife into exile, to shield her from the persistent gal- 
lantries of the king. Naturally enough, his influence 
had waned during his absence, with the heaviest of odds 
against him, before he returned, on the death of Henry, 
to play a premature part in the political arena of an 
unstable regency. Instantly he was accused by his 
numerous detractors of intriguing against the regency, 
as many others were without reason ; and the scandal 
ended in his being thrown into prison, where he remained 
during the greater part of his tenure of the position of 
Viceroy in Canada. During that time he was able to 
give little effective attention to the affairs of New 
France. Indeed, but for the fame of Champlain's ex- 
plorations and the dividends of the Company of Mer- 
chants, New France was during his incumibency all but 
lost sight of. The office that was ostensibly his was 
looked upon as a sinecure, over which there was likely 
to be no end of disputes about the payment of the salary 
attached, whenever the Prince was released. Except as 
a place abounding in forests and intermittently yielding 
rich harvests of furs, Canada was seldom discussed in 
Paris or elsewhere. As far as the interests of the Crown 
were involved, the protection of Quebec, or the encour- 
agement of its struggling pioneers, was less than the 
least of the trifles daily lost sight of in the chatter of 
Parisian social circles. There was not even sufficient 
interest over its affairs to foster the spirit of intrigue 
for place, should it come to anything as a country. For 
while the busvbodies of the court did their best to bring 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 15 

about a separation by divorce between Conde and his 
wife, no one seems to have thought it worth his while 
to intrigue against his holding of the ofifice of Viceroy. 

Nevertheless the Prince of Conde, even while in prison, 
had not entirely forgotten New France, mercenarily or 
otherwise. A man in his reduced circumstances was not 
likely to shut his eyes to the possibilities of wealth-pro- 
ductiveness in this new land. Champlain's reports con- 
cerning nature's prodigalities in it, and the enriching 
cargoes of peltries that were their ready corroboration, 
naturally raised in him the hope that he might do some- 
thing for himself and for it, too, by turning the attention 
of others to its vast resources. And as soon as he was 
set at liberty he entered into negotiations with a member 
of his wife's family, who afterwards became the Due de 
Montmorenci — negotiations which, whatever was the 
personal gain they brought to the Prince himself, were 
not devoid of advantages for Canada. 

The assuming of the Viceroyalty of Canada by a mem- 
ber of the influentially wealthy Montmorenci family, 
came as a turning-point in Champlain's enterprise as a 
colonizer. He had spent three years away from his 
little capital, when this rift in the cloud revealed the sun- 
shine of its silver lining. He had never given up hope, 
however some of his friends had. His integrity of pur- 
pose was as sound as a bell. He had never had recourse 
to unwholesome padding in his reports ; and the facts 
of the country's resources, as therein divulged, stood as 
articles of faith in his pleadings in favour of Canada as 
a place of continuous residence. And, when Mont- 
morenci showed a disposition to be more than a figure- 
head Viceroy, the cloud itself seemed to disperse. Ships 
and supplies began to be provided. The Company of 



i6 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER, 

Merchants had to dip its hands deeper down into its 
pockets in support of the fiscal necessities of the 
governor. Even the king himself, Louis XIII. — with 
the reins of power now in his own hands — smiled upon 
Champlain's efforts, so far as to send to the pioneer- 
governor two personal letters, in which, while promising 
to provide him with the necessary garrison outfit and 
munition supplies, he counselled him to continue to train 
his people to be loyal to the laws of old France and true 
to the Catholic faith. This in itself was a reassurance 
which came none too soon. There had been some differ- 
ence of opinion between the Company and Champlain 
in regard to the latter's official status. When Mont- 
morenci assumed the Viceroyalty, it had been decreed 
that Champlain was to 'be Lieutenant of the Viceroy, 
with the title of Governor in Canada. There was to be 
no disputing of his authority as a colonizing agent and 
supreme civic overseer in Canada. And so bright had 
the prospect become that Champlain decided to inaugu- 
rate the new era of his rule by taking out his young 
bride with him, to grace the home-life he soon expected 
to sec established under the shadows of Mont du Gas. 
As it was, a goodly company of pioneers, including the 
Heberts and the Couillards, had already gone out to 
Canada to examine with their own eyes the possibilities 
of the new land, if not to take an active part as per- 
manent settlers during its first beginnings. 

The romance of Champlain's propitious return to 
Quebec is one over which every Quebecer delights to 
linger, with the local colouring so near at hand. The 
country, discovered by Cabot and explored by Cartier, 
was at last within the threshold of a social organization. 
A woman of culture had come into its life. Madame 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 17 

Champlain had dared the dangers of the Atlantic to 
bless in person her husband's western protege. Known 
to him from her earliest years, Helene Boulle, the daugh- 
ter of Monsieur Nicholas Boulle, the Secretary of the 
King's Chamber, had become the betrothed of the gallant 
Lieutenant of the Guards, who had forsaken the calling 
of a soldier to become an explorer, and whose reputa- 
tion as such had been made while she was yet a school- 
girl. At the age of twenty-two she had been married 
to him, bringing a considerable dower ; and at last, no 
doubt under the spell of her husband's enthusiasm, she 
had decided, perhaps not altogether unreluctantly, to 
provide in her own person a mistress for that many- 
gabled house of his, that stood at the water's edge of 
the Cul-de-Sac of Quebec, and which has gone down to 
history under the specialized name of " The Habitation." 
The voyage across was one marked by delays from 
contrary winds and foggy weather, the time spent on 
board being two months. There was quite a company 
of settlers accompanying the governor and his wife, 
v/hose expectancy must have made them impatient, days 
before the narrows of Belleisle had been sighted. For 
a day or so they learned from the explorer their first 
lesson of the hills and river mouths of the north shore 
of the great gulf. Passing the gap in the Laurentian 
Range that marks the chasm of the Saguenay, the first 
evidence of a human dwelling presented itself, in the 
one or two houses the peltry collectors had built, and 
in the Indian huts of Tadousac. There was some sem- 
blance of a hamlet about the place as seen from the 
water ; and under the new* arrangements, with the Due 
de Montmorenci at the head of affairs and the peltry 
poacher again under ban, the Company of Merchants 



i8 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

had it in hand to erect its storehouse as the nucleus of 
a trading station that for a time was to rival Quebec 
as an outlet of the trade in furs. And after the won- 
drous habitable gap had appeared and disappeared as a 
geographical acquaintance to be remembered, an incident 
occurred, a full day's trip from Tadousac, which must 
have made the governor's bride feel for the moment 
that the land, so strange in its houseless appearance to 
her, was not to separate her from all the elements of 
the old home-life in her native land. Where the estuary 
tapers towards the Island of Orleans and the archipelago 
below it, the Laurentian Range runs out one of its 
titanic shoulders to the very edge of the river. There, 
under the shadow and shelter of the beetling bluff 
known as Cap Tourmente, are the rich meadow lands 
of St. Joachim, and even thus early there was a house 
or two on them, with a sprinkling of barns. It was 
here that Donnacona had given welcome to Jacques 
Cartier ; and it was nothing unusual for small craft to 
be sent thus far from Quebec to lie in wait for expected 
inward-bound vessels, in order to anticipate intelligence 
of their approach. And on this occasion, as soon as 
this vessel of the new era for Quebec hove in sight, 
Madame Champlain's brother, Eustache Boulle, who had 
been in Canada for a year or two, arranged a surprise 
greeting for her, even before she had put her foot on 
land again. As he leaped from his rowboat on to the 
deck of the ship in which his sister was with her hus- 
band, the joy of the surprise shed itself on the whole 
company of pioneers and drove out of their minds all 
the worry over previous delays and the anguish of mal 
de mer. 

And a further welcome awaited this vessel of the new 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 19 

era and its complement of passengers, as it cast anchor 
opposite the Habitation, where the Cul-de-Sac gave inner 
moorage from the river. The Httle band of Quebecers 
there were at the time — a very small community indeed — 
had run to the Habitation as soon as the news was 
spread that the Master's vessel was in sight, coming up 
the north channel. The Indians also found their way 
down to the water front. The Recollet Fathers, who had 
built their little church a year before at the head of the 
Cul-de-Sac, made preparations for a commemorative ser- 
vice. A procession having been formed at the point of 
disembarkation, the whole population of the hamlet- 
capital wended their way to the little wooden edifice — 
the first place of worship erected in Canada — to listen 
with solemnity to the primitive service and the exhorta- 
tions of good Father Jamay. After service, Champlain's 
commission, issued under the Crown seal and the new 
Viceroy's sign-manual, was duly read, while he, as deputy 
of the Viceroy and Governor in Canada, took the first 
step towards organizing his principality by appointing 
Louis Hebert, king's procurator; Gilbert Courseron, 
deputy-provost; and Joseph Nicholas, justice-clerk. 
And thus was Quebec at last established as the first com- 
munity of permanent abode in the country. 

The aspect of the place, after twelve years of fostering 
on the part of its founder, was not reassuring. Beyond 
the Habitation, the church and the storehouse and a few 
rambling sheds, there was as yet nothing striking about 
it save the picturesque character of its site. On the 
plateau above, which was reached by a narrow pathw^ay 
from the Cul-de-Sac, there were only three clearances, 
one owned by Louis Hebert, who had been an apothecary 
in Paris ; the second by William Couillard, who had 



20 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

come out in the same vessel with the Heberts in 1617; 
and the third by Abraham Martin, the Scottish pilot, 
whose name has ever since been associated with the 
locality, in the Plains of Abraham and the thoroughfare 
of Cote d'Abraham. The Habitation was in a wretched 
plight. The roof was leaking, and the frosts of winter 
had snapped the nails and warped the sheathings of its 
chambers. The storehouse looked as if it would have 
to be taken down. Rubbish lay in the approaches and 
choked up the gangways and courtyard. Even the 
Habitation s garden, in which Champlain had taken such 
pride as a seed and vegetable testing ground, was in a 
wilderness state of neglect. But the resolute pioneer 
has a knack of overcoming difficulties without much 
grumbling. Willing hands, that had been idle for lack 
of supervision and encouragement, were soon busy as 
well for Madame Champlain and her three maiden 
attendants as for the governor himself. There were not 
wanting skilled carpenters and masons among the immi- 
grants, and soon the building of Hebert's new house at 
the head of the pathway to the plateau, and the work 
on the Recollets' Monastery out on the St. Charles River 
were suspended, in order that the Habitation should be 
made wind and water tight, and the newly arrived 
chatelaine be provided with an abode fit to live in, until 
the contemplated Chateau on the brink of the rock above 
should afiford her a dwelling suitable to her rank as the 
consort of a governor. 

Nor does the romance exhaust itself in the activities 
of restoring the little capital of New France during 
Madame Champlain's stay in the country. A highly 
cultured woman endowed with the instincts of amiability 
can make herself a blessing anywhere. There had been 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 2i 

hardships to bear on the long voyage across the ocean, 
and there were hardships to face on land ; but, with her 
husband and brother near her, and with full faith in 
their intentions of making something of Canada, she was 
ready at once to give active heed to the conditions of her 
new life in the west. It is said that she set to work 
without delay to learn the Huron tongue, and that, 
before the year was out, had command of it sufficiently 
well to be able to give instruction to the native children 
who could be enticed to receive it at her hands. The 
social refinement and civic security in which she had 
been reared in France no doubt came back to her as a 
regretful longing when her husband and brother were 
absent in their explorations, or when the hateful Iroquois 
were said to be lurking in the neighbourhood. But 
there is on record no mention either of regret or com- 
plaint as having come from her during the four years 
of her residence in Canada. By the villagers she was 
always respected as the beautiful lady of the governor's 
house, amiable and compassionate with young and old ; 
while among the natives she was even looked upon as 
a kind of preternatural being, with her sweet smile as a 
perennial blessing for every one. Even the trinket of a 
looking-glass that hung by her side after the fashion 
of the ladies of Paris, was made a marvel of from 
another world, by the Indians. They had never before 
seen their swarthy faces reflected save in indistinct sur- 
faces, and when once they had a peep at themselves in 
this portable portrait delineator, they were sure that 
there was in the little hand-glass a magic receptacle for 
their personality all the time. 

These four years sanctify to us the beginnings of the 
" ancient capital." And what a pity it is that the his- 



22 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

toriographers of the period have not told us more of 
this brave woman. The Recollet Sagard in his writings 
tells us nothing about Madame Champlain, does not even 
mention her, although, as Dr. James Douglas says, the 
Recollet Fathers must have been welcome guests in her 
salon at the Habitation. This same Father Sagard goes 
into minute details as to the manner of life of the Huron 
girls and the Indian women, yet refuses, as Dr. Douglas 
so courtly puts it, to give us a glimpse into -the character 
and occupation of the first of that brilliant procession 
of French ladies whose beauty, charm of manner and 
conversation have made Quebec as famous as its scenery 
and commerce. How pleasant it would be, says the 
same writer, did we know first-hand from Sagard, how 
Madame Champlain engaged herself in " beautifying her 
rooms in the Habitation, in infusing a ray of refinement 
into the coarse habits of the trappers, soldiers, masons, 
and carpenters of the fort ; to what extent she shared 
her husband's labours, whether she accompanied him in 
his shorter journeys and helped him in his clerical work, 
with whatever other domestic details would have shed 
some rays of the sunshine of human interest on those 
early years of the colony's history. Champlain's own 
nobility of character is displayed in nothing more con- 
spicuous than in his own self-efifacement and in his reti- 
cence regarding his own doings ; and we readily under- 
stand that his native refinement would revolt against any 
parade of his wife's virtues and good deeds. In any 
case, between the spleen or the modesty of the priestly 
historian and the chivalry of the soldier chronicler, about 
all that we know of Madame Champlain is that she 
landed in Canada in 1620 and that she re-embarked for 
France in 1624." The gap, it may be said, however. 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 23 

has not been left vacant by our poets and imaginative 
writers, to the justification at last of the playwright in 
his final touching up of the romantic episode, in the 
Drama herein exploited in Three Acts, not without 
trepidation as to its reception. 

Meanwhile the Fort St. Louis was having its founda- 
tion walls laid on the 

Eagle's eyry that defiance bade 

To cunning lurking in the glades around, — 

on the precipice edge of the meadow lands of the Grande 
Place, and at the head of the steep pathway leading to 
them. For the erection there was plenty of indurated 
claystone to be found on all sides of the promontory, 
and the Company of Merchants sent out in their ships 
the necessary lime and slate and building accessories. 
The hammer and saw and the voices of the workmen 
enlivened the vicinity with the sounds of industry. 
Quebec was in the way of being made a place of fortified 
strength. It was entering upon its military career — a 
place safe to live in, possibly a place to be proud of. 
Between upper and lower town the governor was on 
wing from morning to night, while the work progressed, 
praying no doubt for a full season of summer weather 
to bring the main building at least to completion. 

But that full season of summer weather was not to be 
given him without its surprise and interruption. One 
day his old comrade and friend, the faithful Pontgrave, 
who had sailed with him and for him in many an expe- 
dition, anchored his vessel outside the Cul-de-Sac. And 
a strangely unexpected story he had to tell. The Com- 
pany of Merchants and Champlain had got on fairly 



24 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

well together. The former had not entirely neglected 
his pleadings nor his necessities. They had been stingy 
enough at times in meeting his full demands, and cer- 
tainly had not carried out in every respect the terms of 
their charter, especially in the matter of sending out 
settlers and in providing for the support of the Recollet 
missionaries. This neglect, though borne patiently with 
by Champlain, soon became known to the peltry poachers 
and the jealous fur-traders at home. A cry was there- 
fore raised against the monopolists, and even reached the 
ears of the king. The matter was finally brought home 
to the Due de Montmorenci ; and Pontgrave had come 
to Quebec laden with exchange goods, and with cor- 
roboration of the announcement to his old master that 
a rival Company had been organized by the Sieurs 
Guillaume and Emery de Caen, uncle and nephew, to 
share in the fur trade on equal terms with the existing 
Company of Merchants. And, when Champlain came 
into possession of the full details of the new movement, 
there was nothing for him to do but to temporize and 
await results. 

These results were not long in coming. There could 
be no peace between the two companies and their agents. 
In trade rivalries there is as much bitterness as in reli- 
gious envyings, and there was an element of both in the 
strife which arose, for the De Caens were Huguenots. 
Before the season was over, Champlain's authority as 
civic ruler had been virtually set at naught, in face of 
his lack of arms and militia resources. The building 
improvements had to be all but suspended for want of 
funds ; while the fur-trade, the only staple industry in 
the country as yet, was again placed in jeopardy. The 
mixing up of colonization and mercantile adventure was 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 25 

again bearing bitter fruit, with the paying of tribute to 
the civil authorities more or less of a dead letter. 

The governor had eventually to send representations 
to his superior officer the Viceroy, accompanied with a 
remonstrance from the colonists, lay and cleric. The 
welfare of the country — nay, its very existence as an 
organized dependency of the Crown — was being im- 
perilled. The Company of Merchants had been exag- 
geratingly defamed, and its monopoly rights too hastily 
interfered with. It had not been given full time and 
opportunity to implement the terms of its charter ; and 
now the welfare of the colony was being sadly inter- 
rupted and all building progress at a standstill, from 
the refusal of both companies to contribute funds for 
colonization purposes until it had been decided which 
of them had a monopoly in more than name. 

The effect of the remonstrance on the Viceroy was to 
bring about something of a compromise. A new company 
was formed under a revised and extended charter, merg- 
ing the two companies into one, to be known as the Com- 
pany of Montmorency, and leaving the door open for 
any French trader, who by taking stock in the " merger " 
could become qualified, to send ships to Canada. 
Champlain's status as governor was reasserted, and pro- 
vision made for a fiscal revenue. Immigration was to 
be more actively encouraged, intending settlers to be 
brought out in the Company's vessels free of charge. A 
larger subsidy was to be paid to the Recollets, so that 
their mission in the regions beyond Quebec might be 
amplified. Yet, after all, it was but the old story of fair 
promises to be forgotten in the race for personal wealth, 
promises akin to those of the years before and after, 
made only to be broken, with starvation facing the paltry 



26 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

band of pioneers that remained at Quebec because they 
could not find the means of going back to France. 

And, in proof of this, we have only to learn that 
Champlain, in a worse plight than ever for lack of funds 
and material to complete his new fort and his old Habi- 
tation, had again to leave for France in 1624, to repeat 
his former pleadings in high places for a more generous 
and stable support towards the carrying out of his col- 
onization plans. On this occasion he took with him his 
gentle and loving wife, having made up his mind to 
leave her in France until affairs in New France assumed 
a more reassuring aspect. Along with him also went 
Gabriel Sagard, the Recollet historical narrator, to plead 
the cause of his mission in the charitable and religious 
circles of Paris. 

Nor did matters very materially mend for Quebec 
when the Due de Montmorenci, wearied out with the 
recurring bickerings, commercial and religious, con- 
nected with the affairs of his Viceroyalty, handed over 
his interest to the Due de Ventadour, his nephew. The 
missionary enterprise of the Recollets found ready favour 
in the eyes of the new Viceroy, who is said to have been 
connected with a religious order in his earlier years. 
With the best of motives, no doubt, for the Christian- 
izing of the Indians, Ventadour at once suggested that 
the Jesuits should take part with the Recollets in dis- 
seminating the Catholic faith in the western wilds — a 
suggestion that was immediately carried out by the 
establishing of a Jesuit establishment on the spot where 
Jacques Cartier spent his first winter in Canada. The 
vineyard had need of labourers, and there would hardly 
be any rivalry between the two religious orders, as there 
had been between the two mercantile companies, unless 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 27 

they differed as to how the Huguenots in the colony 
were to be treated, as a preHminary to the conversion 
of the savages. Indeed, no one disputed the wisdom 
of sending out the Jesuit Fathers as the alHes of the 
Recollets. 

But, when it came to Champlain's colonizing plans, 
the old story of cheese-paring repeated itself. There 
was placed in his hands a new commission, with full 
authority to build forts ; to appoint administrative offi- 
cers ; to make peace or war with the Indians as a right 
policy suggested ; to discover, if possible, a route to 
China and the Indies, by way of the St. Lawrence ; and 
to launch any other venture that would serve in the 
development of the country. And all this he was to do 
from the tribute drawn from the fur-traders, beyond the 
prospect, moreover, of eVen a franc-piece from the royal 
exchequer towards enforcing payment of the said tribute. 

On his return in 1626, he was at once to learn how 
far he might rely on the traders for assistance. The 
De Caens had charge of the consolidated company's 
storehouses at Tadousac and Quebec, and in status 
claimed second, if not equal, rank with Champlain. 
Though there had been no open friction between them 
and their governor, there was to be seen at times some- 
thing of a rivalry in minor matters which did not escape 
the notice of the artizans and labourers around the fort, 
Champlain, no doubt wishing to obviate any suspicion 
of unfriendliness, appointed Emery de Caen, the nephew, 
his deputy, when he left for France with his wife and 
Father Sagard, with instructions to him to continue the 
work on the fortifications, naturally thinking he would 
willingly be at some outlay in behalf of the Company. 
But what was his surprise to find, on his return two 



28 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

years after, that Fort St. Louis and its enclosures were 
no further advanced than when he left. The enclosing 
wall was raised no higher than its foundations. The 
repairs needful to keep his dwelling, down near the 
Cul-de-Sac, in a habitable state had been unheeded. 
Some of the necessary buildings within the fort had not 
even been commenced. And, when he made inquiry 
concerning the neglect, he found that his workmen had 
been put to other work directly profitable to the Company. 
This was certainly anything but a grateful return for the 
complacency and favour which had led to the aggran- 
dizement of the De Caens in France and Canada, while 
the two companies were being consolidated into one, 
with these gentlemen at its head. And yet such conduct 
was only a definite, tangible illustration of the old story 
of bad faith — a pertinent proof of the callousness of 
corporations in their greed for the largest dividends, out- 
side of all suffering or neglect of duty. 

And suffering there had been. The sixty or seventy 
people of the hamlet-capital, not to speak of the Indians' 
poverty and want, had been reduced to cruel straits 
during the governor's absence from the lack of food 
and the common necessaries of living. The Company's 
officers had actually kept back provisions and clothing 
from the needy colonists, sore contending with hunger 
and the severity of the climate, though everybody knew 
that there was stock enough of both stored away on 
their premises. And this was but the beginning of 
worse to follow in the shape of parsimony, before the 
very eyes of Champlain himself. 

The king, of course, was too engrossed with the troub- 
lous times nearer home to give heed to the affairs of a 
handful of people in a colony so remote. The Thirty 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 29 

Years' War had not run a third of its course. The 
rivalry of RicheUeu and Buckingham was at its bitterest. 
The mind of the former was too much occupied with 
European entanglements to worry over the fortification 
of a French village in the wilderness, which the powers 
with whom France was at war had probably never 
thought of as a place worth possessing. The De Caens, 
therefore, on the strength of a seemingly assured apathy 
on the part of those who were supreme over Champlain 
and themselves, began to feel that they had a free hand. 
The trade of the St. Lawrence was virtually within their 
grasp ; and, like their predecessors, they were intent on 
finding their own immediate money gain, the only golden 
egg there was in the country. Their obligations to 
Champlain and his colony they had made light of, as the 
other companies had done, in face of his complacent 
remonstrances ; and, now that their conduct was likely 
to continue to be unquestioned in high places, they were 
ready to disregard them altogether. 

During the winter of 1626 there was a dearth of pro- 
visions in Quebec, with the governor helpless in his fort 
to enforce a remedy. In the following year the Com- 
pany's vessels brought out an insufficient supply, and 
the winter months of that year were for the colonists 
a season of want and suffering and deepening gloom. 
There were only one or two families in the place who 
could make ends meet from the labour of their own 
hands, independent of the Company, Colonization was 
at a standstill. Mercantile adventure was again having 
it all its own way. The De Caens had taken no steps 
to bring out the right kind of settlers for the farm, nor 
had they encouraged in any way their sub-agents, peltry 
collectors and labourers to cultivate a garden, far less a 
3 



30 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

field of grain. There were, therefore, no food supplies 
of the country's own growing and harvesting with 
which to ward off famine. And, as winter dragged its 
weary length along after another year of neglect, the 
only hope of relief lay in the arrival of the Company's 
ships when the ice had left the river. 

There was no excuse for the conduct of the Company. 
When Emery de Caen collected his trading yawls in the 
autumn and sent them to Tadousac, he could not but 
know the plight in which he was leaving Quebec. One 
thing he did not know of, and that was the troubling of 
the waters in France over the niggardly cupidity of the 
Company. During the summer of 1626, the Jesuit 
Fathers, fearing a second scarcity of food in the place, 
had laden a vessel, at their own charges, with supplies 
for their establishment out on the St. Charles, only to 
have the elder De Caen place an embargo on its sailing, 
on the plea that it was an infringement on the Com- 
pany's rights. Such heartlessness passed unchallenged 
for the moment. But, knowing what the outcome would 
be, the priests secured one of the smaller craft from 
Tadousac ; and, huddling on board the workmen em- 
ployed about their mission station, sent them back to 
France to escape the famine which, even with few mouths 
to fill, was otherwise unavoidable. The De Caens had 
overreached themselves. The incident was brought to 
the attention of the great Richelieu. This led to a closer 
looking into the conduct of the Company ; and, even 
before the walls of the besieged Rochelle, the busy 
statesman spared a moment to think over the problem 
of a colony whose development might solve other prob- 
lems for him in France. 

Outside of Champlain's remonstrances and the repre- 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 31 

sentations of the missionaries, the tardy growth of 
Quebec was in itself an argument carrying the convic- 
tion that there was something radically amiss in the 
plans for the colonization of Canada. The resources of 
the country in fish, fur and lumber had been established 
as a fact that could not be gainsaid. Yet twenty years 
and over had been frittered away in all but useless effort 
to make it anything of a place to live in. No more than 
two or three score of people looked upon the country 
as their permanent home ; whereas there was in such a 
vast territory elbow-room for all the restless elements 
of France's population, and a wealth of resources that 
might make it a second France in its own right. And 
the master mind of Europe was not slow to grasp the 
situation, now that he had been induced to look into the 
matter. Richelieu had just had added to his multi- 
farious functions and political car>;s the direct oversight 
of the commercial interests of the kingdom, and he saw 
very soon that something might and must be done for 
his royal master's vast domain in the west. The De 
Caens and their close-fisted policy must be set aside. A 
new trading company had to be formed, which would be 
faithful to the higher trust of fostering emigration from 
France, as well as the spread of the Catholic religion 
among the heathen tribes of the colony that had been so 
sadly neglected. 

And when Cardinal Richelieu's plan for the better 
development of New France was finally matured in its 
various details, there was much about it to secure the 
favour of the capitalists of the kingdom. Though 
launched under the official title of the Company of New 
France, the more familiar name, " The Hundred Asso- 
ciates," was given to it, when its mem.bers increased to 



32 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

that number and over. The list of the names of these 
associates, which is still extant, indicates how stable the 
foundations of the new venture were laid. Richelieu 
placing himself at the head of it, the nobility joined with 
the wealthy bourgeoisie, prominent churchmen with 
king's officers, the merchant princes of Paris with the 
prosperous traders of Rouen, Bordeaux and Dieppe, in 
taking up the shares — all seemingly zealous to foster the 
affairs of France in the far west, under such distin- 
guished auspices — all seizing the chance of trading in 
their own right. According to its charter, the new 
company engaged to take out at least four thousand 
settlers within fifteen years ; to furnish them with farms 
and farming appliances ; to provide for their mainten- 
ance until the land should yield enough for their support ; 
and to see to the support and safeguarding of a proper 
clergy, who would look after their religious and edu- 
cational needs as well as the immediate conversion of the 
natives. In a word, the old story of promises handed 
down as a legacy from company to company was as 
luminous as ever, with a few deeper tints, perhaps, of 
golden expectancy about it. 

And what were the Hundred Associates to receive in 
return for all their promises? They were to have sov- 
ereign sway from Newfoundland to the sources of the 
St. Lawrence, and from Florida to Labrador and farther 
north, if they could get farther north. They were to 
have a perpetual monopoly of the fur trade, and a fifteen 
years' monopoly of all other commercial undertakings 
within these bounds. All goods exported from the coun- 
try to France were to be admitted duty free, and vice 
versa. The king made promise of supplying two war- 
ships, to be maintained and equipped at his own expense. 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 33 

The supreme oversight was, of course, to be in the 
hands of the king, but the executive would be solely in 
the hands of the officials of the Company. Indeed, with 
Cardinal Richelieu as Viceroy residing in France, and 
Champlain his deputy as Governor in Quebec, the Com- 
pany of the Hundred Associates was simply another of 
the several monopoly ventures, abounding for the mo- 
ment in financial resources, but with two interests to 
serve, one of them, their own interest, being naturally 
paramount ; and, as effect following its cause, the old 
story of comparative failure could not but repeat itself, 
whatever the seeming instant prospects might be. The 
master mind of Europe, far-reaching as it had been in 
aggrandizing the affairs of old France for a period 
of twenty years, had not yet solved for New France the 
problem of its speedy settlement. 

The formation of the new company meant commercial 
discomfiture for the Sieurs de Caen. As things stood, 
they would have a year's breathing space. The Hun- 
dred Associates would not be able to take charge of the 
affairs of the country till 1628, and it was naturally 
expected at Quebec that the vessels of the De Caens 
would come out as usual with supplies for the colonists, 
even should the ships of the new company fail to appear 
upon the scene till later in the season. But, whether 
from niggardliness or spite, Emery de Caen was again 
to seize the chance of playing Champlain false. The 
supplies left in the fall of 1627 were as insufficient as in 
1626, and during the winter of that year the people of 
Quebec were again hard pressed for food and clothing. 
The prospect of double supplies in the following spring 
encouraged them to bear up against their penury, and 
all the better since Champlain was with them to counsel 



34 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

patience and a policy of share-and-share-alike with what 
little they had. 

The ice left the river about the usual time, but no 
vessel appeared in May, nor even in June of 1628. The 
scanty products of the chase, with some meat from the 
almost empty cattle-sheds of Cap Tourmente, supple- 
mented the short rations of farinaceous foods to which 
the men around the fort were by this time reduced. 
Hebert and the Jesuit Fathers had still some breadstufifs 
left, and these they shared with their neighbours, though 
they needed every ounce of them for their own sus- 
tenance until the ships should come. But would the 
ships ever come — the ships of the De Caens or of 
the new company? That was the question which 
now agitated the little community, day in and day 
out. The brave-hearted, complacent Champlain did 
his best to allay impatience, with his own patience 
fast wearing out, as he saw so many crying out 
for food and having none to give them. What a 
blessing it had been, he must have thought at times, 
that his young and tenderly brought-up wife was not 
now with him, to witness the increasing distress. 

At length he decided to make an efifort to intercept 
some of the Breton fishermen — those of them who had 
fishing stations at Gaspe — to learn if no intelligence was 
to be had of the ships of the De Caens. But when he 
made search for a boat there was nothing seaworthy to 
be had. In terms of Emery de Caen's orders, the larger 
vessels of their company had been placed in winter quar- 
ters at Tadousac. At last an old abandoned tub of a 
boat, gaping at the sides, was found, which the workmen 
at the fort did their best to put into sailing shape, impro- 
vising, as they did, a precarious calking for its weathered 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 35 

seams by a blend of Cap Tourmente tallow, canoe gum, 
and fragments of old rope. There was excitement in 
the padding up of every chink, hope in every plank 
renewed, though the excitement was nothing to what 
was to arise in the little community ere the hazardous 
craft was well launched. The hope of rescue was not 
to be realized in the way expected. 

At the end of the first week in July, two men arrived 
from Cap Tourmente, bringing the news of strange hap- 
penings near the meadow lands. An English vessel, 
having anchored off the elephantine-shaped headland, 
had sent several of its crew ashore, who had harried the 
hay-sheds and houses, and set fire to them, besides carry- 
ing off two or three of the workmen, who had been 
unable to escape their clutches. The men bringing the 
tidings said that they had identified several of the 
marauders as Frenchmen whom they had seen at Tad- 
ousac the year before, maintaining that they could not 
be other than Huguenots, since they had sacrilegiously 
destroyed the altar and sacred vessels they had found in 
one of the houses, where the Recollets went occasionally 
to celebrate Mass. Champlain knew at once, and only 
too well, what the men's story meant. An echo of the 
strife around Rochelle had been wafted across the ocean, 
and the English would soon be heard from nearer 
Quebec. The vessels of the De Caens were no longer 
to be expected, nor any succour from the new company 
either. 

On the following day a message was sent to Quebec, 
demanding the surrender of the place to the English. 
The message came from the fleet vmder the command 
of Sir David Kirke. Champlain, notwithstanding the 
severe straits he was in — after a full winter spent in 



36 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

presence of starvation, and with a possible repetition of 
the same to encounter during the winter to follow, if 
the Company's ships were prevented from coming up 
the river — returned for answer an instant refusal. 
Kirke prudently took the refusal at its safer estimate, 
for he was not only unaware of the actual state of afifairs 
at Quebec, but knew of the approach of certain relief 
vessels that had been sighted near the Gaspe coast. This 
French relief squadron consisted of four war-sloops and 
several transports, laden with supplies for the colonists, 
under the command of Commodore Roquemont, a mem- 
ber of the Company of the Hundred Associates. Had 
it only arrived ahead of Kirke, as it ought to have done 
if the Company had been alive to the interests of the 
colony, all would, no doubt, have been well with Quebec 
to withstand the demand for surrender with some show 
of force, even in presence of the dilapidated Fort St. 
Louiis, dismantled, as it was, from roof to fallen towers 
by the severe frosts and heavy eastern storms. As 
things happened, Kirke, wisely for himself and unfortu- 
nately for Champlain, turned his back upon Quebec, 
and, in a fifteen hours' engagement, seized De Roque- 
mont's fleet and all his food supplies, carrying ofif the 
greater part of his relief equipment back with him to 
England, and thus leaving Champlain again face to face 
with his terrible privations of more than one winter, 
with no relief from any trading company now possible. 
The De Caens, with their trading privileges not yet 
expired, left Quebec to its own resources, as far as their 
vessels were concerned. Their inhumanity is not to be 
spoken of but with indignation. None of their ships 
came near Quebec in its moment of privation. Quebec 
was left alone in the wilderness, with no knowledge 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER Z7 

reported to the community around the Cul-de-Sac, of 
what was going on in the outer world, not even of De 
Roquemont's capture, until ten months after. The dis- 
mal prospect before the little starving colony is thus 
told by the long-suffering and basely- wronged Cham- 
plain himself : 

" While we were impatiently awaiting news of the 
battle we were continuing to distribute our small stock 
of pulse. Many of our men were beginning to give 
signs of bodily weakness. Even our supply of salt was 
giving out. To reduce the peas to meal and thus make 
them more palatable and nourishing, I first thought of 
extemporizing a wooden mortar, but finally decided to 
try to make a hand-mill. Our blacksmith found a 
spindle and mill-stones, and the carpenter undertook to 
mount them. Thus necessity compelled us to do what 
for twenty years had seemed impossible. Everyone 
brought his allowance of peas, and it was returned to 
him as flour. When the eel season arrived the fish 
relieved our wants. The Indians are expert fishermen, 
but were only willing to give us a few, and for these 
they made us pay right dearly. The men bartered even 
their clothes for eels, and those at the Company's store- 
house secured twelve hundred of the slimy creatures in 
exchange for fresh beaver-skins, the price demanded 
being one skin for ten eels. Great hopes had been 
entertained of the grain products of Hebert's farm ; 
but, when the harvest was garnered, all that could be 
spared was nine and a half ounces of barley, peas and 
Indian meal — a scanty allowance for so many people." 

And the record of the rest of the struggle is one of 
the most pathetic on the pages of history. Indeed, it 
was no other than a blessing to the poor, starving set- 



38 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

tiers when the English took the place in the following 
summer of 1629, considering how far they were cut off 
from relief from the Company under whose auspices the 
trade of the place was supposed to be. Every effort 
was made by Champlain to keep up the spirits of the 
colonists by giving them something to do, even if it 
were on the restoration of the fort, without amis and 
ammunition to make it of service against the weakest 
of assailants ; or on the building of a flour-mill with no 
corn to grind in it ; or in the repairing of that tumble- 
down boat of his, with no purpose now to serve by 
launching it, save the removal of some of the colonists 
from the scene of starvation, if they could happily find 
their way in it as far as Gaspe, where they might ask 
for help from the Breton fishermen there, or possibly 
secure a passage home to France with them. 

When the winter months had once more dragged out 
their weary agonizing length, a number of the colonists 
decided to trust themselves to the deep in the vessel 
which had been patched up sufficiently to ward off 
serious leakage. Poor old, rheumatic Pontgrave, who 
had been living in Quebec all during its sore distress, 
was at first prevailed on to take charge of it, but, having 
some disagreement with Champlain over a question of 
precedence, he finally thought it his duty to refuse the 
precarious command. It was Eustache Boulle, Cham- 
plain's brother-in-law, who latterly took charge of the 
dubious argosy. Fortunately for him and those in his 
charge, the boat was captured by Kirke before it reached 
the perils of the open sea, and while that naval officer was 
on his way up the estuary to renew his demand for the 
surrender of Quebec. The capture of " Le Coquin," 
as this vessel of six or seven tons was called, stands on 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 39 

record as the preliminary step towards what is called 
the first siege of Quebec, though there was little in that 
event save the arranging of the terms between the two 
opponents. 

During the preceding months of 1629, the privations, 
which beset the earliest citizens of what is now no mean 
city, were so severe that it seems incredible that any of 
them survived. After " Le Coquin " had sailed, re- 
ducing the number of mouths to feed by -about a third, 
the fight against short rations continued. Indeed, the 
poor people, and even Champlain himself, were at last 
reduced to a soup made from the roots of the plant 
called Solomon's Seal, with wood ashes boiled in it to 
reduce the sickening bitterness, and with not a pinch 
of salt in the settlement to improve the flavour. 

It is not necessary to give here the full details of this, 
the so-called first siege of Quebec. The prize which 
fell into the hands of Sir David Kirke was one hardly 
worth the taking, as far as the personal property found 
near Cape Diamond was concerned. Company after 
company, from De Mofits' time down to the heartless 
regime of the De Caens, had left the growth of Quebec 
very much where they had found it. The English 
gained possession of it, but for three years hardly knew 
what to do with it ; and, when Champlain returned in 
1633 to assume control of its affairs, in the name of the 
Company of the Hundred Associates, it was only to give 
the mixing up of mercantile adventure another chance 
in the carrying out of its retarding policy. 

The inventory of the military and other effects, which 
Champlain had to hand over to Kirke, corroborates all 
that has been said about the neglect which the Com- 
pany of Montmorency, with the De Caens as its execu- 



40 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

tive officers, meted out to Champlain's proposals in 
behalf of colonization. The armament, placed at the 
disposal of a Viceroy's deputy, was hardly sufficient to 
maintain order in a small provincial town, and in no 
way competent to uphold the supremacy of a European 
power of the first rank against the raids of war-enduring 
savages or the possible attacks of such invaders as Sir 
David Kirke. There were a few brass guns, with the 
scantiest stock of ammunition to make them service- 
able. There were some whole and broken muskets, two 
or three arquebuses, a dozen or so of pikes and halberts, 
sixty incomplete cuirasses, with only forty pounds of 
gunpowder in the magazine, and that the property of 
the De Caens. At the time of the capture oi the place, 
as Champlain admitted to Kirke, his men had been living 
for the space of two months on nothing but roots. 

All told, there could not have been many more than 
eighty persons in the place when it was transferred to 
the enemy, only twenty-one of whom elected to remain 
in the country when the change of political masters 
occurred. The little capital was at its beginning again, 
with no clipping of the wings as yet in sight for the 
monopolist company, which continued to think more of 
its own gains in dividends than the common welfare of 
the community. Champlain had proved the soil and 
climate in his garden near the brink of the river ; but 
Kirke found only a few acres under cultivation, and 
these for the most part under the oversight of the 
Recollet and Jesuit Fathers, out on the Little River, as 
the St. Charles was called. And, when the restoration 
took place in 1632— when the Sieurs de Caen were sent 
out to enjoy their year of grace and unravel the tangle 
that had arisen over their demands against both the 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 41 

French and British governments — there did not seem 
to be anything worth taking into account save the profits 
of the fur trade by poaching or otherwise. During the 
Kirkes' regime, an effort was made to organize an Eng- 
Hsh company, to be known as the Company of Canada, 
but it ended in nothing for colonization, as the capture 
of Quebec ended in nothing for either of the brothers, 
save the trumping up on the part of the De Caens of 
a balance against Sir David Kirke for the beaver skins 
which Champlain had delivered up to him. Indeed, the 
seizure of Quebec was not only a serious financial blow 
to the Hundred Associates, but a heavy money loss to 
the Kirkes. Although starting with a capital of three 
hundred thousand livres, the new company was so far 
reduced in their immediate resources that they were not 
sorry to give the De Caens a free hand for the first year 
of the restoration, in ridding Canada of the influences of 
the English company. Louis Kirke had been first citi- 
zen in Quebec for two years, while the De Caens had a 
full year of rule before Champlain arrived on the scene 
again, as governor, in 1633. 

The return of Champlain was a time for thanksgiving 
among the settlers. There was, no doubt, a longing for 
and a looking forward to his coming back, on the part 
of the twenty-one who had elected to remain in Quebec 
after its capture — including Madame Hubou, the re- 
married widow of Louis Hebert, Guillaume Couillard, 
her son-in-law, Abraham Martin, Nicholas Pivert, Pierre 
Dfesportes, and others — as there must have been many 
an exchange of views on the subject, before and after 
Mass in the Hebert homestead, or out at the monastery 
of the Jesuits. With his coming, Quebec was expected 
to take rank as a town whose affairs were to be regulated 



42 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

by the government officials of the country, and not by 
such as the De Caens, or any other trading company. 

After hisi arrival Champlain had many things to do, 
to infuse new life into the colony, with only two years of 
his own life to run. The Company had provided him with 
three vessels, partially supplied with cannon, and having 
on board nearly two hundred immigrants. His path- 
way was, however, beset with many problems, not the 
least of them being the financial straits of the Company 
itself, which, before it rid itself of them temporarily, 
had to have a subsidiary company come to its rescue. 
Another difficulty was the winning over of the Indians 
up the river to trade with the French, to the exclusion 
of all traders of foreign extraction. Some idea of the 
extent of the fur trade may be drawn from the fact that 
the De Caens employed as many as one hundred and 
fifty workmen, exporting as many as twenty thousand 
beaver skins annually, not to speak of other peltries. 
Another difficulty was the insufferable wrong-doing of 
the traders in distributing among their savage customers 
intoxicating liquors when bargaining for the products 
of the winter's chase. And still another trouble was 
the bad feeling engendered from religious differences, 
that would sometimes burst out even within the pre- 
cincts of the fort and the storehouse. Yet, before the 
fatal day came, when the man and hero, who had done 
so much while abiding by his purpose in opposition to 
callous neglect, had to withdraw from his life's work, 
there were many evidences of an approaching perman- 
ency in the way of living in Canada. The Fort St. 
Louis was finished and had several houses erected near 
it, on or near the Grande Place. There were also sev- 
eral new houses erected around the Cul-de-Sac and 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 43 

along the water front as far as what was known as 
Storehouse Point. More than two hundred wage- 
earners had taken up a permanent abode in the scattered 
httle capital. Tadousac and Three Rivers were also 
beginning to have permanent settlers. The missions of 
the Jesuits were being pushed far beyond the confines 
of Quebec. The elements of civilization were gathering. 
The Chapelle de Recouvrance, which Champlain had 
built as the outcome of a vow, provided church accom- 
modation for the growing populace. Besides the 
encampment at Sillery, with its mission house and mis- 
sionaries, there were similar hamlets springing up along 
the river, with a white man or two known of in them 
as the harbingers of better days to come. 

The Company, however, was not cured of its greed 
for gain in the shape of dividends in Champlain's time 
nor for long after his death. Nay, not even up to the 
time of the country becoming a Crown Colony was its 
cheese-paring and retarding selfishness entirely scotched. 
Before Champlain passed from the scene, the impetus, 
nevertheless, had been given to public affairs in the 
colony, that was finally to override this curbing of the 
gro\vth of the country by the self-seeking of commercial 
adventure ; and long may that overriding continue in 
the name of all civic probity and ethical advancement. 

As an emphasis of what has been said on this score, 
our historians give ample support. Dr. Henry Miles, in 
his " Old Regime," an excellent work emanating from 
a scholarly pen, claims that had the various commercial 
companies followed up their first efforts by continuing 
to pay year by year due regard to the fulfilment of their 
obligations, then would this colony of New France soon 
have become considerable in numbers and marketable 



44 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

resources, and have been in a position to ward off the 
lamentable train of miseries by which it came to be 
afflicted afterwards, through neglect, internal weakness, 
dissension, and external hostility. 

And Dr. James Douglas, in his " Quebec in the Seven- 
teenth Century," the most scholarly work on early Quebec 
that has yet been written in English, has a like opinion 
to express. "For twenty years," he says, "the experi- 
ment lasted of trying to build up a colony on the basis 
of a narrow and exclusive national policy through the 
agency of a commercial company. The State desired to 
see the valley of the St. Lawrence inhabited, but shrank 
from entrusting power to any company which would 
encourage individual initiative. The Church strove to 
convert the savages, and would gladly have peopled the 
great waste with industrious Frenchmen. The trading 
companies, even if their personal interests had induced 
them to promote immigration, which was not the case, 
offered but scanty encouragement to an enterprising mer- 
chant or to a labourer. Neither could engage in trade 
without infringing on the Company's exclusive privileges. 
A man could not take up land — although the whole con- 
tinent lay before him unoccupied — without a special 
grant from the French Crown. He could not follow 
his native instincts and join a roving Indian band, with- 
out falling under the stricture of the home government. 
It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that, after twenty- 
one years of such adverse conditions, the colony, includ- 
ing the priests, numbered somewhat less than a hundred 
souls, and that only a paltry acre or two was under 
cultivation." 

And again, in referring to the Company of the Hun- 
dred Associates, the same historian says : " The new 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 45 

company, composed of one hundred good men and true, 
actuated by zeal for the glory of France and the con- 
version of the heathen, would, it was assumed, be willing 
to put aside their selfish interests in favour of the public 
good, and thus build up an empire in the New World 
which, costing France nothing, would yet redound enor- 
mously to her profit and renown. As we shall see, it 
required only a few years to dispel the illusion and 
prove that human greed and selfishness are not extin- 
guished by the acceptance of any religious shibboleth ; 
and that even sincere and earnest endeavour to propa- 
gate a religious faith may co-exist with vicious rules 
incapable of being reconciled with the dictates of patriot- 
ism. Moreover, the Company's career made it evident 
that commercial projects opposed to the public interest, 
and therefore provoking opposition, cannot possibly 
prosper." 

The other side of the story was, of course, dismal 
enough. The accounts of the Hundred Associates set 
forth that, even before the death of Champlain, they had 
lost over three million livres from their exploitations 
in New France. They had equipped, in all, three fleets, 
before and after the siege of Quebec, and these fleets 
had all met with disaster. Even after the subsidiary 
company came to their rescue, they continued in finan- 
cial straits, from which there was no avowed relief, 
though in four years the fur trade netted for them a 
profit of eighty-five thousand livres. They had, there- 
fore, their own burden to bear, while neglecting the 
industrial colonization of the country. It was a losing 
game at both ends of the neglect. .As late as 1644, they 
had totally failed to carry out the terms of their charter. 
Even after Canada had become a Crown Colony the 
4 



46 TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 

Company kept up their commercial interruptions to the 
welfare of the country. They had made large conces- 
sions to speculators for distribution of lands to possible 
settlers, but these retained their grants in the interest of 
the fur trade, and gave, in their turn, a cold shoulder to 
colonization. The company also retained the exclusive 
privilege of importing from France what the colonists 
wanted in the shape of food or clothing and building 
accessories, fixing, as their officers thought fit, the 
market value of all furs gathered, and forcing the people 
to buy everything they needed at the highest prices. 
And this was the commercial tyranny which Champlain 
had to face in its earlier phases as well as in its later 
practices. 

The critic who says that Champlain was not a great 
man has probably a method of his own in measuring 
greatness — from events and environment, perhaps, and 
not from innateness of character. Be this as it may, 
Champlain was in at the opening of the first epoch of 
Canadian progress, and there would have been no fruits, 
as far as one can see, from that epoch, had it not been 
for him. He stood resolutely by his mission and saw it on 
its way towards maturescence in the centuries to follow. 
To Ouebecers and all Canadians he has assumed the 
proportions of a great man. The city of Quebec and 
the country at large stands as his best monument to-day, 
outside of the art of the sculptor or the dramatist or the 
historian who would amplify or detract from the great- 
ness we Canadians have discerned in him. Not many 
years ago fifty thousand people Avitnessed the unveiling 
of his monument near the site of his old home in the 
Fort St. Louis, afterwards the Chateau St. Louis. Six 
million Canadians accepted the event as one of the 



TWENTY YEARS AND AFTER 47 

greatest national interest. The city he founded is hav- 
ing, in this year of grace 1908, its three hundredth birth- 
day celebrated, as a national event, by thousands of 
expectant celebrants ; and the prophecy has just gone 
forth from the greatest Canadian pioneer of the present 
century that, in time, fifty millions of people will be 
within the coasts of Canada to celebrate subsequent 
centenary celebrations, in which the names of Canada, 
Quebec and Champlain will always be found grouped 
as a gamme de trois they fondly love to listen to. 



\/ 



Champlain 

A Drama in Three Acts 



Argument 



The preceding article, " Twenty Years and After," 
discloses the argument of the following drama in his- 
torical detail, as an antagonism between the self-interest 
or the trader and the steadfast purpose of the colonizer. 
The various scenes pourtray the nobility of Champlain's 
perseverance in presence of the meanness of spirit 
inherent in the recurring trading companies and their 
representatives, who were for ever breaking faith with 
their obligations, to the detriment of the pioneers. The 
elaboration of the contrast between the constancy of 
beneficence and the inconstancy of self-seeking is the 
main intention of the piece ; with Beauchasse and the 
De Caens as persistents in the one case, and Champlain 
and Pontgrave in the other, sustained, as the latter were, 
by the loyalty of such as Hebert and Couillard, and the 
benign womanliness of Madame Champlain. 



51 



Dramatis Personae 



Champlain, Governor of Nezv France. 

PoNTGRAVE, the mariner-trader of St. Malo. 

N1C01.AS BouLLE, Secretary of the King's Chamber, 
Paris. 

Louis Hebert^ pioneer settler. 

GUI1.LAUME CouiLi^ARD, pioneer settler. 

Etienne Jonquet, Hebert's son-in-lazv. 

Monsieur L'Ange, poet, friend of the Bonllcs. 

SiEUR DE Caen, of the trading company. 

Emery de Caen, his nepheiv. 

Beauchasse, clerk of the old trading company. 

Jean Duval and Antoine Natel, conspirators. 

Pierre Chavin, Champlain s chief clerk at the Habi- 
tation. 

Captain Blais, of the company's ship. 

Baptiste Guers, commissione. 

Gilbert Courseron, constable. 

Kirke's envoy, coiircnrs-dc-bois, the doctor of the ship, 
attendants, sailors, conspirators, Indians, and others. 

Peres and Freres. 

Fathers George, Joseph, J am ay, D'Olbeau, Le 
Caron, Du Plessis, Le Jeune, Brebeuf, secular priests, 
and others. 

Female Characters. 

Madame Champlain, Madame Boulle, Anne He- 
bert, Guillemette Hebert, Madame Hebert, attend- 
ants and others. 

53 



Champlain 

A Drama in Three Acts 



ACT I. SCENE I. 

Jean Duval, blacksmith, Antoine Natel and three 
other conspirators discover themselves in the Stada- 
cona^ woods on the plateau overlooking the harbour 
of Quebec. 

Jean Duvai,.2 There is no end to toil and ill-requiting 
While grows this Habitation.^ Day in 
Day out, there's naught but hack and haste: 
From forge aglow and clanging anvil din, 
I would be rid of all, to run afield. 
I 

Antoine Natel. Ah, Jean Duval, of name akin in 

sound, 
You are the devil when your rage is swollen ; 
Out with it, then, and say what 'tis you'd do. 
Are we not sharers in this shifting game 
That's woo'd us from old France? 

DuvAi,. What would I do? 

What are these forests for, while yet they hide 
Away the wealth to make us rightly rich? 
Are we to slave and miss high recompense? 
Masters 'tis ours to be, not pioneers' trulls, 

55 



56 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Whose measured meagre fare betokens worse 
In days to come. What would I we should do? 
Draw hither, fellows, while I speak my mind. 

[The five Conspirators draw together and seat 
themselves on tivo fallen trees that fotm a 
convenient angle for their convention des 
cinq. 

Hist, ask not how nor why I speak to you. 

Forests have ears and we must compass ours, 

Nor run them o'er. Champlain^ must not return 

To France. His doom is here, where is our hope. 

All this and that and far beyond is ours. 

To give away or to retain as men of might — 

A nest of pirates, if you will, or Spanish dons, 

Recking no mock of interferences 

From friend or foe, from France or foreign straint. 

NateIv. a very devil, say I, Jean, you are : 
Treason's your trade as I will answer for't. 

Duval. That's as it may. But neither are you 
milkish, 
Casting your rightful own away on one 
That ne'er may live to use it here or yonder. 
Are you a croak, Antoine Natel, or but 
A charity scab, who fain would emulate 
Your fare of ugsome eels and mildewed pulse,^ 
To play obeisance to a would-be lord? 

Natel. Speak on : I listen as do these our friends. 
We would be rich, as what Parisian would not. 
Though wealth comes ill from shedding human blood. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 57 

There is no hindrance in these wilds to stay 

Our aims, were Champlain baned from France and us. 

Is't that you mean, as think we other four? 

If so, let's swear, hand unto sworn-on hand, 

And I will be your second. 

Duval. Well said, Antoine ! 

Brawn and the daring that have brought us here. 
To straighten out the twistings of life's iron 
With pioneer blows — these be our stock-in-trade ; 
And if the trading's dulled by rivalry, 
'Tis ours to close the opposition shop, 
And make what terms we please, while yet these lands, 
With all their tawny serfs, are free to us, 
Barring this master of the Habitation. 

[Alarm from an approaching figure. 

Natel. 'Tis he himself! 

Duval. Champlain ? He must not see ! 

Haste through the glade by different ways, and meet 
Me by the shore-line of the Cul-de-Sac,^ 
When twilight furnishes a nook obscure. 

Enter Champlain. 

Champlain. Was't but the shadow of a zephyr'd 
branch, 
The rustle of some premature decay 
Of autumn's matron bloom? Yet here there is 
Fair field for rendezvous of friend or foe — 
Retreat for self-communing, as the breeze 
Brings whisperings from the harbour's breath 
Of expectation's secrets. One is ne'er alone 



58 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Where nature sighs her love-song in our hearing. 
And here, within these glades that sentinel 
This forest realm far unexplored, as seems 
To me, France and Quebec do plight their troth. 
While I stand witness to the prophecy. 

A city founded is no city built, 
Till faith becomes prolific by the fathering tale 
Of good report and all-availing eflfort. 
De Monts has seen Port Royal slow to thrive, 
Yet falters not to further bold essay 
For wealth to satiate his company with ; 
But I have seen Quebec, nature's chef-d'oeuvre. 
And fain would colonize a commonwealth, 
With it in midst, to peer the elder nations. 

Flouting all hindrance from the greed of gain, 
Madame de Guercheville still would have her peres;"^ 
But, priests or parsons, far her wealth would go 
To quicken my qui vive on what's to come 
By way of permanence. And here I swear 
Beneath the dome of this pure western sky — 
God's temple altared by the Cape near by. 
And else adorned by nature's fondest tints — 
I solemn swear to sink all claims for wealth 
My own, and fight, as best I may, for what 
Is lasting in the fame of exploration 
And in the care, that cozens no one's purse. 
To plant the seeds of nationhood. I swear 
To do't : and may the record of my oath 
Haunt me to find it unfulfilled. But who 
Comes here? Was't human shadow, after all, 
I saw? 'Tis Jean Duval, the iron man 
In more than smithy phrase. This fellow I 
Do sore mistrust. His sullen, forge-stained face 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 59 

Has fuel underneath its unwashed seams 

To keep aglow for long a mutiny. 

What brings you hither, my goodman? There is 

No lingering in our work though I be here. 

What would you have of me? 

Duval. I have no claim 

To be from duty, were my work belate. 
My forge has need of stock, and I would scan 
The channel from this vantage-ground to see 
If comes the vessel with supplies afresh 
From Tadousac.^ 

Champlain. Since from the glade you come, 

Perchance 'twas from some tree-top you have ta'en 
Your poise to make observe, 

Duval. Nay, not so high, 

My monseigneur, but I have seen — 

Champlain. The barque 

From Tadousac and France? Ha, does she come? 

Duval. Ay, more than one — bark-built, though not 
all barques — ^ 
A hundred, more or less, beplumed in green. 
And freighted to the gunwale dangerously. 

Champlain. The Montagnais, no doubt,i° returned 
to sue 
For further counsel how to flush their foes 
And make alliance with their Huron friends. 

Then haste ye to the river's brink and say 
That here in ample grove I them await, 
Where they may else encampment amplify 



6o CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Convenient to all parley. Pierre Chavin^^ 

Knows what I would to give them countenance. 

Until the Habitation has more 

Than walls to make impress of welcoming. 

The Master of the ship from Tadousac 

May bring up-hill a moiety of tars 

To make some state ado with fleur-de-lis 

And uniform. Haste and away, nor linger. 

[E.vit Duval, hastening from the grove, with an aside 
on his lips. 

Duval. Was ever chance so favouring to my trump? 
'Tis his to vamp aloud : 'tis mine to win. 

Champlain. What fate-evolvements strange are in 
my hand, 
Here on a continent of interests twain ! 
France, England, allied as a must or may, 
With these the tribes of primal lusts and hate ! 
What quarrel have I with this swarthy ire, 
Save trade's instincts to titillate the near, 
And limit wide, as may, its vantage-ground? 
These knaves approaching are but friends to me 
Because they would make foe of me to theirs. 
Service I'd make of them in exploration's cause, 
Service of me they'd make for conquest's sake : 
And thus ambition holds me poised in doubt 
What rectitude of rule would have me do. 
De Monts, Quebec, and France — my trinity of cares ! 
Algonquins, Hurons, Montagnais would make 
Quebec their rallying-point ; but whence 
Comes mine, should conquest not mature for ave 
And keep for France this best of trading coignes? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 6i 

In times of colonizing, breeding hates 
Are poor handmaidens. Build I would in peace, 
Making my ramparts strong for after-foe, 
If come he will to cauterize success. 
I've proved my little harvests, God be praised ; 
And where the soil yields corn the plain breeds towns, 
A commonwealth's up-building. Hark ! they come, 
These devil's love-chicks that are friends of mine ! 

Bntcr Antoine Natel zvith Captain Blais. 

NaTEL. Pardonne, vionsienr, 'twas Jean Duval that 
sent 
Me hither, humble as a guide for Captain Blais,^^ 
Who'd climb aforehand from the moorage bight 
To greet you opportune. 

[Exit Natel. 

Champlain. . Welcome, my Blais ! 

Good news, I trust, you bring, and fair despatch, 
To give us cheer from Tadousac and France. 
Strange hap it is to have you with us now. 
While waiting advent of these crowding tribesmen. 

Captain Blais. They're on their way, your black- 
smith in advance. 
Marshalling his motley line processional, 
With objurgations hot as smithy glow — 
Your men and mine on starboard or astern. 
List to their chorus, halyard-timed, " Ho there. 
My hearties, ho," reverberate from the distance. 



62 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Men and Sailors singing. 

Haul the rope and hold it full, 

Ho there, my hearties, ho! 
Saving your breath for an honest pull, 

Ya-ho, heigh-ho, ya-ho! 

And save their breath perforce they will, before 
The summit's overcome. While climb they must 
Slow-paced, 'tis mine to seize the instant chance 
To give curt tidings from the nether port, 
And these writ messages from Pontgrave.^^ 

Champlain. He's well? 

Capt. Blais. Ay, well and busy, as his 

heart 
Is fervent o'er De Monts' affairs and thine. 

[Champlain scans one of the letters. 

Champlain. This rivalry breeds mischief to our 
plans. 
Monopoly is ours by charter-right, 
Though dangered sore by Breton jealousy; 
And here these villains' elbows angle sharp 
Into our ribs, as if the market lot 
For beaver skins was theirs as much as ours. 
Had I full will of state, short shrift I'd mete 
To every Basque and Malouin ghoul afloat,^* 
Who'd pretermit our prices, and sore havoc make 
Of what the Company needs the most of all 
To implement our purposes and hopes 
Of state extension — compassing New France 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 63 

Into a realm of more than name. But breath 
For breath, my Blais : your men and mine enchoir 
On nearer ground, with breath not yet outblown. 

Men and Sailors singing. 

The task is o'er, well done and full, 

Ho there, my hearties, ho! 
Saving your breath for one more pull, 

Ya-ho, heigh-ho, ya-ho ! 

[Captain Blais moves aside to reconnoitre. 

Capt. Blais. That blacksmith blade, I trow, would 
chaos drag 
In line to meet you here. Amid the din, 
I hear his raucous voice a-hammering out 
His red-hot oaths of mandate, as they spread 
And simmer in the murmurings of the many. 

Champlain. These unconverted ignorants, per- 
chance, 
May knit my problem solvable. The trade 
Is in their hands : their wars in mine, to make 
Or mar. Friendship is thick as blood, at times. 
Prolific mostly of advantage. Nay, 
The interest born of self, be't love or war 
Or trade, gives impulse to all enterprise. 
And here, within these continental claims — • 
The confines of a realm explorable 
Yet unexplored — 'tis mine to cultivate 
A friendship with these heathen near at hand — 
To civilize, to Christianize, for trade 
Results, or, better still, for conscience' sake. 



64 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Two worlds, my Blais, are seeking instant blend, 
The white man's song ascendant. 

Men and Sailors singing as they approach nearer. 

Hey, ho, for the river, the glad, gladdening river, 

The glory of ships and of men, 
'Tis ever renewing a now and forever, 

To piece out God's world again. 

Refrain — 

From the brooklet's fond glee to the far-swelling sea 
Its glory's the song of the free. 

Champlain (continuing). I'd have them round me 
in the centre, Blais, 
To give some show of state. The eye of man. 
Savage or civilized, seeks root in pomp 
To fashion its designs. Ah, here they are : 
While yet they sing, give grouping, guiding hand. 

Men and Sailors enter, singing. 

Hey, ho, for the mountain, the soul-staying mountain, 

So grand in its garment of green : 
As guardian it stands o'er the glad river's fountain 

Hid far in the valleys between. ' 

Refrain — 

From the brooklet's fond glee to the far-swelling sea, 
Its glory's the song of the free. 

Curtain. Tableau revealed. Indians grouped to the 
right and left of Champi^ain, who is surrounded by 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 65 

. his own and Captain Bi.ais' men. Captain Blais 
and Pierre; Chavin on either side of Champlain. 
The whole company singing in concert. 

Hey, ho, for the forest, the wealth-teeming forest, 

'Tis ours to subdue and constrain : 
The handmaid of nature, how amply thou storest 

The tributes that life can sustain. 

Refrain — 

From the brooklet's fond glee to the far-swelling sea, 
Thy glory's the realm of the free. 

An Indian song and dance by the tribesmen. 

ChampIvAIN. Greeting I give in name of king and 
state. 
To all our allies in this western world. 
Though not in tongue or kin assimilate. 
Brethren we'd be by welcome's fair exchange. 
This land is ours reciprocate. 'Tis yours 
By right of birth ; 'tis ours by right of those 
Who sent us hither, laden with the intent 
Of peaceful trading and of permanent 
Abode. My friend, brave Captain Blais, 
From Tadousac arrives, to share with me 
And mine the task of hospitality. 
He has the means within his company 
To safe mature our converse into line 
With treaty-making for the general good. 
I bid him call the interpreter to tell 
You what I've said by way of common greeting. 
To-morrow we will meet on board his ship 



66 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

For entertainment and exchange of views. 

Chavin, my right-hand counsellor and friend, 

Will join with you, my bravest Captain Blais, 

To entertain our guests with prelude talk, 

Interpret over my return. Ho, you, 

Natel, I'd have you me accompany 

Down to the Habitation. In time, 

I will return when I have studied these, 

And you, Chavin, have studied those somewhat. 

To gauge the measuring unit of our faith in them. 

[Bxit Champi^ain, as the whole company raise cheers 
in his honour, and sing a favourite French chorus 
ivhile he disappears. The Indians also take up a 
chorus of their ozvn, followed by dancing in Indian 
fashion. Jean Duval, conspicuous in the revel, 
makes many asides to his fellow conspirators. 

Curtain. 



ACT I. SCENE 2. 

The Conspirators lurking on the shore of the Cul-de-Sac. 
The Habitation seen on the opposite side. 

Duval. Well met, my comrades ! Here we may 
commune 
Within the dark of our intent, and in the light 
Of what has happened — first great state event — 
While yet Quebec is in its infancy .^^ 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 67 

Quebec ! Who'd make it aught but what it is, 

Were we to fail to make it more for us? 

Who is this Champlain, strutting, would-be lord, 

To dominate our world both white and black? 

He is our master, say you ! Nay, but we are his, 

Now that these savages have come to join 

In making fame for us and not for him. 

What say you, friend Natel, now you have been 

With this and that, from Habitation to ship? 

Naught have you seen to bid you change your mind? 

Natel. Naught added unto naught a nothing makes, 
While you have sure a something to advise. 
What are your plans, now you have brought us here? 

Duval. My plans are yours and mine, sworn to by 
these. 
We are but one in counsel o'er a deed undone: 
What is the will of one is will of all. 
Hand unto hand, we share and share alike, 
Deed compassing and in its recompense : 
All will be ours, when Champlain dies the death 
I have prepared for him and Captain Blais. 

Natel. What is that death, and where and when 
and how ? 

Duval. Mark yonder light, beyond the garden wall, 
Whither our great man seeks retreat from cares, 
And courts the twilight air with thoughts of love. 
Counting his petty sowings in their bloom. 
To nature's music in the lap of tide : 
That is the beacon of our enterprise : 
There is the final rendezvous of fate 



68 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Witti us for him — he measuring out his plans 
Ahead, we garnering ours in one fell swoop. 

Natel. Murder is't, then, Jean Duval, you'd do — 
Cold-blooded murder for the sake of gain? 
Have you — and you, and you — counted the cost. 
And you, who oft have curdled us with tales 
Of death and torture in Parisian dens? 
Think you St. Lawrence is the muddy Seine, 
Wherein to hide the crimson of a crime? 
When striking down a foe, I would be safe, 
Else might the stroke reprisal make 
On mine own head, to mutilate a fool. 

Duval. A fool, you say ; nay, craven rather — per- 
chance 
Betrayer of our purpose ! Hissing and hounds. 
With hammer in my hand, reserved for others, 
Perdition's demons snipping at my heels 
To urge me on, I'd make a testing of your skull — 

[Duval rushes on Natel, sei::ing him by the 
throat ivith his one hand, and threatening 
him zvith his hammer in the other. 

Natel. Hold, villain ! Seize him, friends ! 

{The three other Conspirators, rushing to Natel's 
rescue, seise Duval struggling; and, pluck- 
ing the hammer from his hand, hold him in 
firm restraint. 

Duval. Nay, check me not. 
Till measure make I of the traitor's eall. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 69 

Natel (standing apart). Constrain him while I 
speak. Ne'er deluge us 
All over with the vapours of your smithy rage 
Mistimed. You would be master premature. 
We're here to join in counsel, not to jar, 
Drawing the ears of others hither ward, 
Before we wist what you would have us do. 

One of the Conspir. Ay, that is in the train of sense. 

The other Conspir. As so say we. 

Natel. There, now you have the major vote, Duval, 
Binding us still to further your designs 
Unto the death. We are no jostling fools. 
Trading for war, or smirking in our paint 
And feathers, whether we understand or not : 
We are from France, no drolls of woodland spawn. 
Then out with what you'd have us do, and lead 
Us to the edge of circumstance to-night 
Or when the time is ripe. 

Duval, (released). Draw hither then, 

While this my temper's stayed — the mischief of it. 
These Montagnais the brunt must bear for us. 
They're yonder up the hill, in council met, 
Preparing for the morrow's grand pow-wow, 
On and around the ship ; nor till the dusk 
Of evening will they homewards. Then may we. 
Disguised as they, a seeming lingering remnant, 
Secrete ourselves within the garden nooks, 
And bide our chance to rush upon our victim. 
This hammer here is sure as David's stone. 
My arm, its sling, as silent, making aim. 



70 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Your share is but an after-part to play, 
While circumventing Blais on board his ship, 
To counterpart on him our blow — while daring fate 
To treaty with Chavin for rule supreme 
Within the Habitation. 

Natel, Methinks 

The after-part is more severe a task 
Than is the murderous prelude to the ploy. 
There, now, your anger hold in leash of will ! 
Surely a jest has permit from a friend. 
The means are yours, no doubt, to crown success, 
And ere we part, 'twere well to make rehearsal. 
The soldier's foresight is a fell romance, 
When he neglects all back-door right of way, 
As vanguard zeal leaps on to victory. 
Therefore, while thieflike silence girds the bay. 
Let us adjourn where runs the garden line. 
To share review with you and espionage, 
Foot unto foot and eye to eye alert, 
Ev'n to the cautions for alarmed retreat. 

Duval. Retreat, alarm, and palpitation's dread — 
Goose-step apace, with cowl close overdrawn ! 
Sin save us, while this posing is afoot, 
And keep the tinkered bottom of our hearts 
From falling out ! As brats of Mars, forsooth. 
In swaddlings, is the role for us to play, 
Ev'n to the cautions for alarmed retreat. 
Owl-eyed Antoine, see how the glimmering light 
From Champlain's chamber winks itself abed ! 
Therefore to us, poor timid mice awake, 
Reveal how best you'd plan to bell the cat — ^^ 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 71 

Perchance with tape-Hne measuring inch by inch 

The avenues of our activity, 

Ev'n to the cautions for alarmed retreat ! 

Come, fellows, follow ; I am on my guard : 

Be you on yours, while Antoine here makes sure, 

Ev'n to the cautions for alarmed retreat. 

Natkl. Your rage and satire are but impish twins 
Which claim their father in your hardihood : 
They run fell comrades in a common leash, 
While yet their game is in its lair, with ear 
On edge to outer sounds. So will I move 
Ahead and wait you yonder, where the tide 
Makes garden water-mark. 

Duval. Alarmed again! 

The flittering of such fluttering hearts a bas! 
'Tis well his oath is not forestalled, or ev'n 
On the threshold of our deed he'd turn 
To run away. An if he would? Ha, ha! 
Then would there be a shedding thrice of blood 
Providing comradeship for souls in flight. 

CoNSPiR. This matching may produce a fire, Duval, 
To send us all to kingdom come ablaze, 
Ere yet the deed be done. Were it not well 
To speak him fair — 

Second Conspir. And give him easier rope 
To work his fashion out as best he would. 
As so would we, more subject to your will. 

The Three Conspir. So say we all united in the 
splore. 



72 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

DuvAi,. You're right, my lads, and I am wrong, 
more fool. 
Then haste we as we may, to join his measuring mood, 
Ev'n to the cautions for alarmed retreat 
For him, though not for us full purpose-charged. 

[Bxeunt the Three Conspirators. 
Instant for action when the morrow's eve 
Brings chance and darkness to my single arm : 
There's no Natel, in all this world of blight, 
To stay the blow that's death to him I hate. 

Exit Duval and enter Pierre Chavin. 

Chavin. Voices these were for certain that I heard — 
From Captain Blais, methought, and boatswain help, 
Bringing the supercargo's ship-details. 
Which he would have full checked ere morning comes. 
These loudsome visitors encamped above 
Will hardly brook neglect the livelong day, 
And ship-unloading must be done betimes, 
Whate'er betides. Ha, there he comes, for sure, 
Unless the lap of oar deceives the ear 
As did these voices that methought I heard. 

Enter Natel^ in lurking fashion. 
Natel. Monsieur Chavin, I would a word with you. 

Chavin {startled). Antoine Natel! Then voices 
'twas I heard. 
Where are the others? 

Natel. Ah, monsieur, gone they are, 

To seek the previous charm of wickedness. 
Near bv the master's vonder srarden wall. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA y^ 

Chavin. Speak out, nor thus enigma and alarm 
Stir in my ear, intent on seaward sounds 
And Captain Blais' approach. What is't you mean? 
Who are these others you'd make mystery of? 
Have they unlawful promptings 'gainst Champlain? 

Natel. Alas! they have, and I would tell you all. 

Chavin. All! And what? To Captain Blais as well? 
Ho, here he comes, his keel abreast the shore ! 
Care you to speak before him, as to me? 
Or is your secret but surmise the place 
Would smell to laughing-point, were it o'er-hatched? 
Come on, and let us hail him ! 

Natel {zvith trepidation). Hail him not, 
Unless you'd have Duval return hot haste. 
From lurking round the Habitation, 
To stay my tale. 

Chavin. What! Is it Jean Duval, 
That sulphur-tempered jack-trap, beldame-born, 
Suckled of ire, of whom you have to tell? 
Then Blais must hear your tale, assuring us 
A friend as witness, and the master's friend. 
So come your ways and make a breast of it. 
With no Duval from Hades threatening you. 

[Chavin hereupon takes Natel by the arm and 
leads him off the stage. 



74 CHAM PLAIN: A DRAMA 



ACT I. SCENE 3. 

ChampIvAin, Captain Blais, and Pierre Chavin dis- 
covered on board the Company's ship, early in the 
morning, zvhile the crezv is helozv for breakfast, 
antecedent to the discharging of the cargo. The 
three are seen conversing near the after-deck. 

Champlain. The men know nought of what's afoot, 
nor need 
Be told, till time is ripe for apprehending blow. 
Chavin has told me all at wake of dawn. 
And not a whisper permeates the air, 
Nor should escape us, being most concerned. 
Antoine Natel fears Jean Duval's right arm, ^ 
As well may both of them the law's avenge. 
Call forth your sailor lads, that I may speak 
A word, to mask the event in embryo, 
Till nip we safe this bud of mutiny. 
Omens of ill are not ingraft with harm 
To those who boldly interrupt the ingrate 
In deeds of violence. There is a law 
That measures justice out for man's remede, 
And I myself must hold the measuring staff 
Expert and sure, in such a case as this. 
Unorganized as yet, we have no justice-court,^'^ 
Wherein to try de jure miscreants. 
Nor even prison-house, beyond your ship. 
All we can do is bind them hand and foot. 
And send them with you, back to Tadousac, 
Where counsel I may take with Pontgrave. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 75 

CapT. Blais. While yet these natives are a-buzzing 
round ? 

Champlain. Leave these to me and the interpreter. 
Chavin will guard the Habitation; 
While you deplete your cargo and select 
The men to seize the culprits unalarmed. 
The woods are mine from which to drive the gnats : 
Yours is the ship to environ as a trap : 
The citadel my brave Chavin will hold.^^ 

Chavin. Let all and sundry, say L welcome have, 
So that the would-be stay-aways may know 
Their disaffection will be self-betrayed. 

Champlain. Well said, Chavin, give folly further 
chance 
To masquerade apace with blinded eyes, 
Until reprisal comes self-justified. 
The ignorant as seldom fail to side 
With f airplay 's cause as do the wisdom-struck ; 
And we must hold the bridle lines discreet, 
To keep in rein the major part. So, then, 
Call all on deck, that I may prelude make 
Of herding guilt within high festival, 
LIntil the arm of justice times its blow. 

Capt. Blais. The arrest will hardly lack for wit- 
nesses. 

Champlain. The more the better for our purposed 
aim, 
To blight the seeds of discontent. Chavin 
Has bid us well : let all and sundry come. 



76 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

CapT. Blais. Landsman and salt, with tribesmen 
fringing round, 
Motley in garb, in etiquette diverse, 
Will need a supervision wisdomed well, 
To blend in festal comradeship. Let's hope 
No chance dessert will be a dish of blood, 
To rouse the passions of their unkempt souls. 

CiiAMPLAiN. Yet, blood or none, the venture must 
be made. 
Pipe up the men, and bid them hear me speak 
How meed awaits them in the afternoon, 
When once the cargo has been shipped ashore. 

[The Sailors are piped on deck. 

Capt. Blais. Ho there ! this way to hear the master 
speak ! 
Give him a rousing cheer, and then be silent. 

[Cheering from the Sailors. 

Song and Chorus. 

Hail to Old France, whence comes the pioneer. 

To sow the seeds of industry and skill ; 
Viz'e le roi who sends his subjects here, 

To unfurl the flag of France on every hill. 
Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our 7'ii'ats famed in song, 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, in sight of land. 
Raise we our I'ivats long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur ! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA jj 

Cham PLAIN. Well sung, my lads, and opportune in 
theme ! 
And I would have you make reserve of such 
And more, w^hen once unloading toil is done, 
And rest comes sweetest at the set of sun. 

[Cheering from the Sailors. 

Visitors we have on shore who bid adieu 
To you and me to-day ; and I would send 
Them on their way back to their forest homes, 
Embued with due respect for whom we serve, 
Our king and fatherland. Repeat that song 
For them : vibrate the rigging as you may 
With Samson sport void of all feigning hate, 
And I will have no one absent himself 
As sharer in your mirth or looker-on. 

[Cheering from the Sailors, zvho again sing. 

Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, in sight of land, 
Raise we our vivats long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur ! 

Merci, my lads, your hearts are well in place , 
And, hap what will, your loyalty I'll hold 
An unalloyed reserve. The enterprise, 
The king has undertaken here, demands 
Repression of self-will and false design ; 
And I, for one, must do the warding off 
6 



78 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

From here to Tadousac, with Captain Blais 
And brave Chavin — and you — to stand by me. 

[More cheering from the Sailors. 

I leave you in the hands of Captain Blais 

To crown aglee th? fete of your deserving, 

With what replenishment of stores are ours. 

Bien revoir to all of you, my friends : 

I hie me to the Stadacona woods. 

To meet these natives fair. Interpreter ! 

I would you bear me company forthwith. 

{Cheers and chorus. 

Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, in sight of land, 
Raise we our 7'i7'ats long and strong, 
Vive le ^ouvernciir ! 



CHAM PLAIN: A DRAMA 79 

ACT I. SCENE 4- 

'/'he Company's ship ivith decks cleared. The rigging 
adorned zvith flags and bannerets. A dais has been 
raised amidship for Ciiamplain, Captain Blais, 
Pierre Chavin^ the Interpreter, the Chief of the Mon- 
tagnais, and the sub-oificcrs of tJie vessel. Sailors and 
colonists, in holiday attire, are seen fraternizing zvith 
the Indians, as far as the language of signs permits; 
and, as they throng everywhere, on the poop, in the 
shrouds, or on the main deck, Jean Duval and his 
fellow conspirators prominently share in the festival. 
Antoine Natel is seen keeping somezvhat in the 
background, near a group of sailors, to the right of 
the dais. When the curtain rises, the feasting is 
supposed to be over, the zvhole company being on 
the point of singing another verse of " Vive le gou- 
verneur." 

Hail to New France, where comes the pioneer, 

To plant his expectations far and wide : 
Hail to Quebec, whose birth has crowned the year, 
Amid the woodlands near the river's side. 
Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, in sight of land, 
Raise we our z'iz'ats long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur ! 

The Indians follozv zvith a chorus of their ozvn. 
Thereafter Duval sings. 



Chorus- 



So CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The; Blacksmith's Song. 

I am a blacksmith bold, 
As was Tubal-Cain of old. 
In smithy all aglow, 
Night and morning: 
Cling, clang, my hammer goes, 
Ringing merrily its blows, 

On the hot iron, fast and slow, 
Ever turning. 

Hand and hammer, anvil clamour 
Of the smithy's chastened charms : 

Flash the showers of gold and glamour 
By the blacksmith's brawny arms. 

What trade is like to mine. 
Though the sun's forbid to shine 
By the clouds beyond my door, 
Late or early : 
My hammer maketh song 
On the anvil, loud and strong, 
As the light and heat outpour 
Bright and merrily. 

Hand and hammer, anvil clamour 
Of the smithy's chastened charms : 

Shed the star-showers 'mid the glamour, 
By the blacksmith's brawny arms. 

As the song ceases, the Mate of the Vessel calls out. 
Ho there, my lads, the villain seize amain ! 



Chorus- 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 8i 

Each to his charge; the others take. by force, 
And drag them thither, where the governor sits ! 

[Great commotion and resistance on the part of 
Jean Duval and the three Conspirators. 
Antoine; Natel is led forth by the Sailors 
near him. 

Chavin. Antoine Natel, 'tis now your time to speak, 
In presence of your masters, what you know 
Of this Duval — this devil's own, and these 
His henchermen in crime. 

DuvaIv (struggling zvith his captors). Antoine Natel, 
Give heed to none of them. Queried we speak ; 
But, otherwise, I do disclaim beforehand 
The cursed hound who curves his lolling tongue, 
Dripping accusingly with venom's spit, 
Against my character. 

Champlain. Speak out, Natel, 

If you have aught to say ! 

Natel. There's naught, monsieur. 

For me to say, beyond what else these know. 

Champlain. And what is that? 

DuvAE. Antoine Natel, beware ! 

Hate as you may, you need not hang yourself. 

Champlain. Silence, Duval ! Your rage in time 
will foam. 
Antoine Natel, does Captain Blais know all 
You have to witness in this strange exploit? 



82 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Natel. From what has happed, some one knows 
more than much. 
To place us "thus in urgent jeopardy. 

Capt. BIvAIS. Do you recant or re-confess? 

NateIv. Were there 

But two about, methinks, I'd re-confess. 

DuvAiv. You would, you chicken-heart ! Then would 
I twist 
Your neck as I would fire-untempered tube, 
And feet you towards the seigneur mightiness 
Of this our so-called master of Quebec. 
Craving your pardon, noble monseigneur, 
This rat Natel is but a timid beast, 
And, ever nibbling, cons his retro-acts 
As sentry cautions for alarmed retreat. 
Enhance I not your temper, dear Antoine, 
In speaking thus of you ? Beware, I say : 
Bite ofif no more your gullet may engorge : 
To say what's opportune, speak not at all. 

Champlain. Counsel comes quickened, when the ad- 
viser tests 
Its gifts upon himself. Condemned you are, 
From words your own and boldness out of place. 
Bind him secure, nor let the others go : 
All must be tried for treason. 

Duval. Treason to whom? 

Not to the king, since he's not here ; nor yet 
To Canada, our land as much as yours ; 
Nor to your childish ecstasy of rule. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 83 

If this white-livered minion has betrayed 
Aught but his own timidity, I'll tar 
His liver black with stagnant blood, and tear 
The heart of him asunder, valve to valve, 
And throw it dripping in the face of justice. 

Champlain. Remove him, lads, for fetters full 
secured. 
We've frightened off the natives to their home. 
In duty such as this there is no fear 
For us. To Tadousac the five must go, 
There to be tried by Pontgrave. For me, 
I'll take them thither — 

DuvAi, (being dragged off). You? To Tadousac? 
To France — perchance to hell ! What wots it now ? 
Give me but clutch of that Antoine Natel, 
And all the Champlains on the hemisphere 
Would not prevent my vengeance drawing blood. 

Curtain. 



ACT I. SCENE 5. 

A room in the Habitation. ChampIvAin and Pont- 
grave seated on either side of a table. 

Champlain. No counsel hath from me more of 
respect 
Than yours, my Pontgrave. There was no call 
For me to tarry long at Tadousac, 
When once you verdict gave to hold our court 



84 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Where this strange mutiny had hatching ground. 
You have the miscreants in your keep ; while I, 
Returning in hot haste ahead of you. 
Have made redress for loss of building time. 

PoNTGRAVE. Alas ! 'tis ever building time for you 
And me, with fools at hand to undermine 
The foundings of our expectations, urged 
By honest toil. Implore, explore, deplore 
Make up a gamme de trois,^^ evolving aye 
A tune that has no chink of gold for us. 
Chauvin, De Monts, and I — and then De Chaste, 
When died Chauvin,-*^ for him to die in turn — 
A rule of three to solve the mysteries 
Of western life for eastern maintenance — 
Have left the terms the same for you and me, 
With no inflow of nuggets yet for us. 

ChampIvAin. You would be rich too soon for after- 
fame. 

PONTGRAVE. I would have salvage for the wound I 
had 
From foul Darache's treacherous pistol-shot,^^ 
Which breeds within me still rheumatic pains 
And old age coming on. 

Cham PLAIN. Fie on you there. 
Tough-salted son of Neptune, weather-proof! 
De Monts has no more brawny servitor, 
To dare for him the tide of enterprise, 
To stand by me amid these hopes of ours. 

PoNTGRAVE. Hopes come and go, as, of Acadian birth, 
They settled once upon the dovecot built 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 85 

By Poutrincourt-- and you, only to take 
Their flight far up the river here, to flit 
Again where yet Ic bon Dieu only knows. 

Champlain. Ah, that was but a prelude to the ken 
Of where our fortunes lay remote from foes. 
Port Royal, racked with priest-and-parson strife,^^ 
And pit-a-pat from Indian entourage 
And Boston threats, betrayed its infancy, 
Leaving your gamnie de trois yet in our hands — 
De Monts' and yours and mine — to harmonize 
The song of hope with undernotes of faith. 
You have no fear, nor I, of what's to come, 
Nathless the folly of this Jean Duval. 

PoNTGRAVE. Let Jean Duval be hanged, as others of 
his kind, 
Though all in time when judged by his compeers! 
What recks a head or two in kingship's games ? 
Yourself and I have roamed the seas for long 
In search for prestige territorial 
And peltry profits : you are now in touch 
With sway viceregal ; I, a pilot poor. 
With but one wholesome leg to stand upon. 
What would you have to reassure your reign? 

Champlain. You for my second, first as last 
assured — 
First in command of yore and still my friend. 
Brave and unjealous, true as steel in grain! 
The charter of De Monts has but a year 
To run ; and, end or mend, 'tis mine to build 
Some semblance of a fixed town abode, 
Which after-charters may not overlook 



86 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

A factor of their terms. Here we remain, 

The twain of us, a Hfe-vvork in our hand, 

Perchance to bear the toss of angrier seas 

Than those we've braved from Father Neptune's ire — 

Perchance to see the wreckage of our toils, 

To hear tlie hissing of our foes' outcries, 

The waihngs o'er a loss of trade returns, 

Or kingship's recompense ; but ne'er to die 

From self-betrayal, though it be from want. 

Come weal or wailing, here our task is set. 

Say I, as God doth recommend. 

PoNTGRAVE. Nor shame 

For me to follow such a leader, grained 
In goodness, fitting fore-robe for a king. 
There's wealth in this vast continent 
To make of commonwealths a score or more. 
A king, though poor, is still a king in kind ; 
And poorer though his vizier be, yet I 
Your second still would be, were not a sons 
To drop into my scrip for many a year. 
Still gold is gold, and I would have of it, 
Defying age and this defective limb 
That twinges older ev'ry day, since e'er 
Derage's aiming ire made mark of it. 
Would that we had him here to masthead him 
With hempen kerchief, as we're like to do 
To these rapscallion sons of mutiny. 

Champ. There is a prompting in my heart to grant 
Remission — 

PoNTGRAVE. What! caress a serpent's curves? 
Better it were to abrogate at once. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 87 

Or place in pawn your coming commonwealth 
To every scoundrel, white or black or brown, 
Who conies to give you courtesy, and makes 
A kicking footstool of the twain of us. 

Champlain. I would, of course, there should be 
judgment given. 

PoNTGRAVE. And meted punishment, as I would say. 
Candid and condign, as a crime-restraint 
In this new realm of ours. The court you hold 
Will have no legal awe from wig or gown ; 
But, none the less, the verdict men must hold 
As neither play, nor vengeance preconceived. 
Nor shorn of state-like dignity acclaimed. 

Champlain. So would I have it, as Chavin's been 
told, 
Since yesternight, making announcement meet 
To all the workmen round the Cul-de-Sac 
And Storehouse Point,-^ to witness every act 
In presence of your sailor lads, and even 
Whate'er of tribesmen there may congregate. 
The king's prestige and ours must be upheld 
As that on which all else must bear effect. 
Remain : I go to see what has been done 
To implement my pre-commands. 

[Bxit CHAMPI.AIN. 

PoNTGRAVE. Champlain ! 

That is a name posterity may praise 
From river's mouth to where it has its source, 
Or I be much mistaken. Born a king 
Without a kingdom, a kingdom he has found. 
Beset with dangers manifold, he maketh pause, 



88 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Only to overcome them one by one. 

I would I had his constancy and tact 

In making good a purpose. Alas ! to me 

This founding of a France the New out here 

Has gone askew, since e'er I homeward sailed 

With my first freight of furs. Ah, how they hailed 

My thrifty find ! How promised they to me 

The husbandry of ampler means, to vie 

With Spain and England, in these western wilds — 

These wilds, indeed, that sered Jacques Cartier's hopes 

And Roberval's renown, bringing to shame 

Poor De la Roche, Noel and all the rest.^^ 

And now they play me poor as Jean Baptiste. 

But Champlain ! Ah, far other, he's a king. 

In hell I'd have some hope, were he but near 

To cherish me, to christen me each day 

With patience. Nought can sour these great, dark eyes, 

From joining with the sun in making day of night, 

Or thawing out a winter's woe at Tadousac. 

This Jean Duval must be full Satan-born, 

To seek, for hate, the end of such as he. 

No knight around Port Royal's festal board 

Gave joy a gentler impulse, in the days 

When merry Marc Lescarbot ruled the roast-^ 

Or poured the wine : no heart so stout as his 

When famine stalked us to the verge of death. 

Nay, dear old France hath few his peers, in times 

Of peace or joy, of danger or distraint ; 

And, if his plans mature, as chance they may, 

The centuries will carry down his fame, 

The father of a western fatherland. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 89 

ACT L SCENE 6. 

The vessel's deck arranged as a tribunal, with awning 
overhead and a dais erected on the quarterdeck. 
Champlain and Pontgrave seated together as the 
supreme officials of the colony. Pierre Chavin acts 
as clerk of the improvised court of justice. Captain 
Blais takes the place of prosecutor, the ship's doc- 
tor acts for the defence, and one of the ship's mates 
as foreman of the jury. Sailors, pioneers and In- 
dians in the foreground, with solemnity on every 
face. 

Pontgrave. Before this solemn-purposed court pro- 
ceeds, 
I would a word to emphasize decree. 
The folly of wrath and hate was at its poise, 
When what is law — authority acclaimed — 
Put forth its hand, to quench the deed devised. 
Here sits our governor — God grant him health — 
And here stand I to vindicate his rule, 
Defiance bidding to the secrecies of crime. 
And all who join its brotherhood of guilt. 
Necessity is the birth-mark of the law, 
Created and apprised of God and man ; 
And hence this court, tribunal of the state, 
Apprised of God, has warrant for its acts. 
In sight of heaven and France. Forget me, then. 
As mariner, and give me heed as judge, 
Doing aright as this sworn jury bid. 
The doctor here stands for the prisoners' rights, 
While query for the truth is made by all. 
Hence, God be with us all, for justice' sake. 



90 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Capt. Blais. Natel hath made confession. 

PoNTGRAVE. Call him up. 

Tiii; Doctor. King's evidence is set the privilege 
Of ransom, when 'tis penitence that pleads. 

PoNTGRAVE. And, use-and-wont, the court sustains 
the claim. 
Bring forth the prisoners ! 

The: Doctor. All of them? 

PoNTGRAVE. Nav, not Duval as yet. The tempest's 
lee 
Aligns the ship's procedure, and becalms 
A sailor's nerves whilst closing with the wind. 
Duval's a tempest ^olus himself would fear. 

The Doctor. The other three? 

PoNTGRAVE. I care not as to them. 

[All the prisoners are brought on the stage save 
Jean Duvai,. 

Pontgrave. Antoine Natel, free words are yours to 
plead. 
In condemnation of your fellows there. 
Your privilege due leniency should show 
In accusation, as this court intends 
While weighing justly. Speak as under oath, 
Vouchsafed protection from your governor, 
Who ruleth here as rules the king in France, 



CHAM PLAIN: A DRAMA 91 

With death for treason in his regal gift. 

These twelve, your fellow-men, will hear your tale, 

To sift and harvest what is true in it. 

ChampIvAin. I would a word to these, to recommend 
Our action solemnly matured, and stained 
With no fell bias of revenge. Quebec 
Thus soon brings hope to us of growing times. 
Through disaffection's blight, the seed — though sown 
With forethought-skill and watered well with zeal — 
Will linger in its rot this side the harvest. 
The common cause of bearing well forbids 
A pruning punitive. Therefore, of need. 
When penitence holds out its pleading hand, 
To stay the raid of pruning-knife, 'tis meet 
That there be sparing by the pruner's hand. 
Here in our colony we are but few. 
Here in our colony there is work to do. 
Duties co-ordinate, with no mistrust 
Between, our present enterprise demands. 
All law hath credence from our wisdom-tooth 
And favour from our eye, which mitigates 
Its purpose 'gainst the one for others' good. 
Fulfilling what the state needs paramount. 

The Doctor. To stay all perturbation and delay, 
I have in keeping this attest to read. 
Which savours of confession. 

PoNTGRAVE. From Natel? 

The Doctor. Yea, signed by him in due and proper 
form. 



92 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

PoNTGRAVE. 'Tis well : proceed, and expedite the 
event 
Of Jean Duval's retention in attaint. 

TJic Doctor reads. 

By name Antoine Natel, I solemn swear 
Myself addict to turpitude of late, 
In that, with others, I >devised the death 
Of him, my master, ruling for the king — 
Offending doubly as a foul ingrate and fool, 
Against the law and one deserving high. 
I would commend me to your clemency 
With due repentance for my guiltiness 
In worming leadership, from greed of gain. 

PoNTGRAVE. This ends the case, if your accomplices 
Accept and kiss the rod of this indictment. 
These are your words free and subscript, Natel? 

Natel. They are. 

PoNTGRAVE. And you, ye others, what say you? 

Call in Duval and count a full consent. 
What ! speak you not ? Is your ingratitude 
Too heavy for your eyebrows to sustain — 
Your hearts too sluggish to contemn your shame? 
Ah, here's Duval. 

Enter Duval zvith tzvo Sailors on either side of him. 

Re-read what says Natel, 
And let the rest of them keep nothing back 
Of what they know corroborate of the plot 
To kill their sfovernor. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 93 

Duval (to the other three Conspirators). Has he 
confessed ? 

The Conspirators. He has. , 

Duval. Then may I listen to his words 
As you have done. 

[The Doctor re-reads Natel's confession, the pas- 
sion of murderous hatred gleaming all the 
while from Duval's face. 

PoNTGRAVE, How now, Jean Duval, 

Are you content to muster with your friends ? 

Duval. And you? I pray you tell me who's my 
friend 
In this grotesque array of fence for nought? 
Is this a court of justice or a farce? 
A son of France, I claim my trial rights 
Where justice robes itself in realty, 
And has the sanction of the king of France. 

PoNTGRAVE. We have discussed all that, and what we 
want 
Is your confession synchronous with this. 

Duval (hissing zvith rage). Confession have from me 
in terms as these ! 
Think you I sprang from mongrel kin or tribe 
As did this poor Natel, the slime of frog 
And speckled spawn of mushroom parentage? 

PonTGrave. There is no clemency for words like 
these. 
7 



94 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Duval. I claim the right to speak whatever way 
Is mine, — perchance to act, should you reject 
The plea I have advanced in my behalf, 
Under the ample folds of France's flag. 

PoNTGRAVE. A nation's flag is oft invoked amiss 
To ward off doom. Do you confess your crime ? 

DuvAiv. Confess, confess, and evermore confess — 
Now that this coward's sprung false-bottomed leak, 
To send himself to hell confessing still. 
To France you will not take me? Say you, no? 
Then, if with him I must, the way is long, 
And I may surely curse you all farewell. 
Hinder me not: my breath will just suffice 
To give you fitting conge as I may. 

PoNTGRAVE. Take the vile miscreant to his cell again. 
That business may proceed to reach its end. 

Duval. My cell again! Nay, farther still than that, 
And I must have companionship. Ah, ha ! 
Shed from my strength, you chips ; and you, my lads, 
Make what you can of circumstance, nor mourn 
Antoine Natel unsouled. Scope for my arm. 
You fools ! Dare you to check my run-a-muck ? 
You're not Natel's or Champlain's sponsors. Ah, 
Bacterian spawn, I have you at my stroke at last : 
Take that and that and that, you lees a-rot, 
A triple exit for your toadish blood ! 

[Great commotion and a hastening towards Duval, 
zvho escapes to the huhvarhs, and from them 
utters further defiance. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 95 

Hold back, or more may join me Hadesward. 
Ha, ha, Champlain, you trader's gilded tag, 
With prick of knife receive my benediction, 
Should aim direct aright my strength of cast. 

[Throxving his hlood-staincd dirk at Champlain's 
head, Duval Unally leaps from the huhvarks 
of the ship into the river. 

Pontgrave. After him, six of you! he can't escape. 
Remove the others ! As for poor Natel — 
What say you, doctor, is he really dead? 

The; Doctor. Alas ! no man can live for very long 
Whose heart is cut in two. He's dying sure. 

Champlain. There is no dallying for such crime as 
this, 
Degenerate beyond all state control. 
Insane, inhuman, to the nuisance point. 
The verdict first, and then the punishment. 

Pontgrave. What say the jury? Are you all agreed ? 

The Foreman. Of treason guilty all, of murder one. 

Pontgrave. Then do I now condemn the one to be 
Suspended by the neck until he's dead, 
His head thereafter to be severed quite. 
And placed upon a point of wide observe, 
As caution to offenders of the law. 
The others may be ta'en to France, as this 
Our master should decide. 

Champeain. This is a day 

To be remembered for right rule assured. 



96 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

And, when this turmoil's over, we may keep 
Our hearts in place to prosecute the work 
Of building, with the air thus shed of crime. 
Perforce in face of Pontgrave's decree. 
This court is now dismissed to witness all 
The culprit's capture and his just despatch. 

[A noise of altercation from the shore of the river. 
All run to the side of the vessel, to witness 
Duval's final capture. 

Ah, they have caught him, raging still, 

Nor cooled by his immersion. Pontgrave, 

I leave you to his taking off. My eyes 

Will hardly stand the strain. Besides, for me, 

There's work of more import, now justice clears 

Our atmosphere for conjoint industry. 

While daylight lasts, and morrow brings its tasks. 

So au revoir to all. My Pontgrave, 

You'll find me at the Habitation. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 97 



ACT II. SCENE I. 

Paris. The garden attached to the residence of M. 
Nicholas Boulle, Secretary of the King's Cham- 
ber. BouLLE and Champeain in conversation. 

BouLEE.i This founding of a colony has its charms, 
Though yet it shows few subjects civiUzed. 
From patron unto patron, change on change, 
You seem to have a fleeting heritage. 
With traveUings up and down the forest glades, 
Fighting the battles of your dusky friends, 
Exploring and pow-wowing, making trust a doubt. 
Your life's a strange unrest of problem work 
That hath but little solving. 

Champlain. What of that, 

As long as sweet Helene me welcome gives. 
And you, her parents, guarantee your smiles 
To me, a roving suitor, always turning up? 
To roam and ruminate on what must come 
At last is no betrayal of the faith 
I have, that what is wisely sown must bear. 

BouLEE. Your faith as yet bestows lean dividends, 
With competition blowing angular, 



98 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

And peltries selling downward every day. 
Monopoly should be monopoly, 
And not the veering weather-vane it is, 
With trading greed and courtier-craft a-neck 
To make a pitch-and-toss of enterprise, 
And wreckage of a poor man's recompense. 
But croaking ne'er disarmed catastrophe, 
And I am glad to see you buoyant still. 
Your Habitation f — 

CHAMPI.AIN. Ah, that is built 

And ready for domestic winterings ; 
And, with the fort for its security, 
Quebec will soon be — more than Indian name — 
The country's entrepot and capital. 
Were you to see my rose-trees all in bloom, 
Or winnow in your hands my heads of grain ; 
Were you to breathe the blend of purities 
That zephyr woodland isle and sea-green river, 
From near the sentiers of my hale parterres, 
And watch the fringing clouds bedrape 
Cape Diamond and the Cul-de-Sac ; 
Or, climbing to some higher vantage-ground, 
Were you to count the grouping plains and girding hills, 
And estimate them all a reaming storehouse, full 
Of health and forest wealth for those to come. 
Your scrip would swell, as does my prophecy, with hope 
That, soon or late. New France will take its place 
Among the realms of this wealth-bearing earth. 

BouLLE. Ah, yes, Eustache has brought us goodly 
news 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 99 

Of what the country has in unkempt store, 
In spite of all its snow and ice. But here 
Comes one to doubt you, as a mother may, ' 
Who seeks to rob us of our pet ewe lamb. 

Enter Madame; Bouli^e from tJie house. 

Madame: Boulle. Is it concerns of state you two dis- 
cuss 
Out here beyond eavesdropping? Verily, 
We women folks are held in simple fee 
When men have bargaining aside on hand. 

■ Cham PLAIN. Nay, scold us not, for overhear 3^ou may 
Without offence. 

BouivLE. He says Quebec uplifts 
Her head as proud as this poor Paris does ; 
But he is governor, you know, and chance 
May praise beyond consent. 

Champlain. What monsieur means 

Is, all is well to fill Helene with joy, 
When she gets there. Ah, here the gipsy comes, 
Tripping as comely as she'll walk a queen 
Within her realm and mine beyond the seas ! 
Who would not win a crown, were't his to win for her, 
Not mine, who only rover am at best? 

Helene: Bouele approaches the group. 

My dainty one, the years go very slow, 



loo CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Though you have grown apace. But I would have 
You mine at running pace, to home you at Quebec, 
Where you may join the sun in making growth 
And happiness for all. 

Helene. Why not stay here, 

And join the sun to play with all of us? 

BouELE. Ay, there's a poser for your problem-top, 

That would be worth your while to saunter round. 

> 

Champlain. But, dear Helene, there's work for me 
to do, 
And you would hardly wed a lazybones, 
Wlio lolls around the gaieties for long, 
To be a burden to his friends and foes. 

Heeene. a lazybones may love his wife! 

BouLEE. By Jove, 

She has him there, right on his burning cheek. 

Champlain. The birds have nests to build, ma chere 
petite, 
And I am building one for you a-west. 
Where you may sing for me the livelong day. 
And prize your nestling with the setting sun. 

Madame B. How goes this western nestling nest of 
yours ? 

BouLLE. A few more sticks and straws and down, 
retained 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA loi 

From our poor dividends, will surely make 
A chateau of the thing, as needs must be, 
For princely entertainment and eclat. 

Madame B. When men defy the truth they satirize, 
And I must shun all tidings second-hand 
From Paris, now Quebec is home with us. 
Champlain can tell me what I want to know, 
Beyond all filling in from courtier's jeer, 
Who worries over sons per sous, yet scofifs 
Away his hopes deferred of coming gain. 
I am a mother, not a satirist, 
And hence would learn, to ease a mothers heart, 
How goes this western nestling nest of his. 

BouLLE. You see how times will change, my boy, 
When this sweet birdie shares your western nest. 
Come, sweet ; your mother would a-courting go 
By proxy ; she has speech with your betrothed. 

Helene. But I am fain to watch them coo for me, 
And find about Quebec, my home to be. 

BouLLE. You would, my lass — to be chief mate in 
time? 
I kiss adieu, then, to you all. Champlain, 
My man, you're in for't now ! Checkmate's the game : 
A queen to gain, whatever pawns you lose 
In explanation. An revoir, nies cheres! 

{Exit M. BouLLE. 



I02 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

[Champi^ain spreads out on the table two plans, 
one of them of the Habitation, and the other 
of the environs of Quebec. While Cham- 
pi,AiN and HeiyENE entertain each other over 
the one, Madame; BouIvI^e interests herself 
zvitli the other, though not exclusively. 

Helene. Ah, mother, this is what I want to see — 
The nest, its very whereabouts and plan. 
Where are our rooms to be ? What, right in front, 
With cannon all around? And galleries, too? 
And dovecot in the inner court? It looks 
A nest worth having, three in one attached. 

Champlain. And all for you, ma chere. 

Helene Give me your hand. 

And let us wander from the river's shore. 
You pointing with your finger, as we pass 
From garden to the outer court, and thence 
Within, from jetty path — ah, there it is — 
To where the magazine — yes, that is it — 
And smithy, too, and where the workmen live, 
So plainly marked, with chimneys all a-smoke ! 
What think you of this western nestlifig nest. 
Mamma? A wonder, is it not — complete, 
Compact and quaint, and fitting for the times. 
Though not resplendent as a chateau yet? 

Madame B. Romance can make a palace of a hut; 
But I'm too old to be romantic, child. 
Hie to your father now, if you can find him. 
And fill his ears with what you've seen and heard : 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 103 

I would have Champlaiu tell me of this plan — ■ 

Re-enter M. Bouij.e, coiirersing with another gentleman. 

Why, there he is, returned with Monsieur L'Ange,^ 
While yet his railleries echo in our ears : 
Run, child, to greet them. 

Helene. I would rather not, 

Ma mere. 

Madame B. What, not to greet your father, chere? 

Helene. My father has but left us ; and, besides. 
When Monsieur L'Ange is with him — 

Madame B. Fie, Helene! 

Then I must go myself to make amend. 

Champlain. Who is this Monsieur L'Ange, Helene? 

Helene;. ' A friend 

Of mother's, and a poet filled with verse. 
Who'd have you praise his lines whate'er they be, 

Champi^ain. No great ofifence in one who singeth 
well. 

Heeene. a great offence in one who singeth ill. 

Champeain. And what of him who buildeth ill, per- 
chance? 
You like the Habitation? 

Heeene. I do. 



I04 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

ChampIvAin. And him who built it? 

HeIvEne:. Ah, of course I must. 

He being my betrothed gallant knight. 

Champlain. My love will always love him? 

He;i,ene. Yea, I will. 

Champlain. In Paris or Quebec? 

Helena. In Paris and Quebec. 

Champlain. True love for love, my heart? 

Helene. Ay, love for love. 

And, hap what will, your fcmmc petite alway. 
This is my song of love, while Monsieur L'Ange 
Is still reciting his to other ears. 
I sing it oft when you are far away: 
Now may I sing it? 

Champlain. Yea, my dear one, sing. 

Helene's Song. 

Oh, who will tell me what is love, 

Far as all sense careers, 
Far as the ear may list above, 

To the music of the spheres, 
Far as the eye and hand can prove 

The truth of what appears ? 
Tell me, oh, tell me what is love, 

To the soul that love endears ? 

And a still voice reveals, nor ever conceals, 
That love is the truth of one's own : 

The impulse of soul that flouts man's control. 
And never is ever outgrown. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 105 

L'Ange. Bravo, ma'mselle, a song to celebrate! 
Technique in taste, and music a-propos, 
Such as I wish would hap to my poor verse 
When runs it into song! 

BouLLE. Monsieur Champlain, whose faith is ocean 
wide : 
The poet L'Ange, whose pen would etch the stars ! 
You two should each the other know, — the one 
The arbiter of uncoined wealth in France 
The new ; the other, umpire of our higher gifts 
In France the old. 

Helene. Oh, father, dear, forego. 

Madame B. Wicked always, spice-tinctured as in 
pickle ! 
Excuse him, gentlemen, it is his way. 

Boulle. Bxcnses-moi may kill a courtier's luck ; 
So will I seek reprisal otherwhere. 

Helene. Then, father mine, you threatful homicide, 
Since shuttle makes no come-and-go like you, 
Now in, now out, I think I'll loving ride 
A la volante,^ to keep you out of murder's way. 
Pardonne, messieurs, I bid you au revoir. 

[Exeunt Heeene and M. Boulee. 

Madame B. Be seated, gentlemen, nor think to heed 
The contretemps. The kitten only plays 
Her father's game of words. Now you may speak, 
Champlain, of this Quebec of yours. 



io6 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

L'Ange;. Ah, oui; 

There's no romance so full of quickening spice 
To our Parisian palate, epic or ethnic, 
As this new world you have been shaking up : 
I've had a hair-brained wish to cross with you. 

Madame B. What, you to cross the seas? 

L'Ange. Why not, madame ? 

Madame B. Where life is out of tune with use-and- 
wont ? 

L'Ange. Ah, there's the charm. 

Madame B. For mariners a-bold, 

But not for courtier-poets such as you. 

L'Ange. Ay, even for priests and poets, brides and 
beaux, 
For mariners and manikins. 

Madame B. There are no priests. 

Champlain. None for the nonce, madame, but there 
will be. 

L'Ange. And where there's work for priests en 
capnchon 
There's chance for poet's sacrifice in verse. 

Madame B. But what's the work for priests to do 
out there? 

L'Ange. Ah, there's the luck for me. Should all the 
blacks 
Be deafened 'gainst the call of reverend pere, 
'Tis well that some poor soul should be near by, 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 107 

To play the part of soonest penitent. 

Should monsieur, therefore, deem me bad enough, 

To give my ciuiui cowboy cabin room, 

I think I'll go: what say you, sir, for me? 

Champlain.. There's work for all out there, poet and 
priest, 
Patron and penitent, pioneers of all — 
A world to be subdued for what it holds, 
To be replenished full with betterment, 
In God's own time and ours. 

L'Ange. I think I'll go, 
If monsieur will but take me, first of my kind. 
To plant the harmony of words anew. 

Madame B. Ha, ha, and homesick die of lonesome- 
ness ! 
You foolish man! you go to Canada? 

L'Ange. Ay, even there, where Paris sends in time 
Her sweetest child, to be a governor's wife. 
Pardonne, monsieur, and you ma chere uiadame ! 

Madame B. Ah, that is other: years take time to 
lapse. 

L'Ange. The olden prophets were fore-running bards, 
And I would like to greet this land of promise, 
To meet Brule, this master of the woods. 
And Pontgrave, brave master of the tides — 
To verse St. Lawrence and its Tadousac, 
The Montmorency and its foaming roar — 
To climb proud Mont du Gas,* and view afar 



io8 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The limits of the land you've written of, 
From eastward known to westward unexplored. 

Cham PLAIN. Welcome your words and wish, pro- 
phetic-toned 
Of faith's repute a-chipping at its shell ! 
Ah, madame, we are men at one ; so look 
Not ill at ease. The things that come to pass 
Give promise of their coming, and we should take 
The promise by the hand as I do Monsieur L'Ange. 
Nay, smile away your frown ; and bless you, sir, 
For your esteem of what is not a dream. 
Pardonne, madame: you yet will give us blessing. 

Madame B. A blessing bleached with tears ! 

Champlain. Nay, nay, not that; 

Another voyage, with Monsieur L'Ange on board, 
And yet another with the Recollets,^ 
We'll pave the way for colonists' thanksgiving 
And natives' penitence — the prelude meet 
To after-streams of permanent success 
And your acceptance of a wider faith 
In this great enterprise. Monsieur L'Ange, 
I'll foster what you've said, and further soon 
Your thought of joining us. Meantime adieu, 
Madame et monsieur. 

L'Ange. Nay, I'll go with you. 

Madame B. Philippe, a word ; you will not go to 
Canada ? 

L'Ange. I think I will ; Helene is going there, 
You know, and I would spy the land for her. 

[Exeunt L'Ange and Champlain. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 109 

Madame Boulle sings. 

Oh, who can tell that there is a love 

Which never sojourneth with fears, 
Or who will say that this world can prove 

The good that' ever endears ? 
How cometh the strength from within or above. 

To sanctify love with our tears? 
Nay, tell me, oh, tell me what is love, 

That still overcometh the years ! 

And a still voice reveals, nor ever conceals 
That love is the truth of one's own : 

The impulse of soul that flouts man's control 
And never is ever outgrown. 



ACT II. SCENE 2. 

A church in Paris in zvhich service is being held com- 
memorative of the departure of the Recollet 
Fathers to Canada, including the Reverends Denis 
Jamay, Jean d'Olbeau, Joseph le Caron, and 
PaciFique du Plessis, priests of that order. 

The poet L'Ange one? Louis Hehert, druggist, discovered 
on the Square facing the church. 

L'Ange. What solemn, stirring times, you well may 
say. 
My friend, Hebert,^ for those intent to go ! 
Were I not L'Ange the poet, I would be 
Champlain the explorer. Yea, the land is all 
8 



no CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

He says it is, from Orleans unto Helen's IsleJ 
Nor will he rest until 'tis more — a land 
Of rich returns to pioneer and patron. 

HeberT. 'Tis well the priests are going; now our 
wives 
Will not be sullen, as they've always been, 
When talk is made of Canada for them. 
A home is but the way to heaven, they think, 
With priests to bring us in and send us out : ^ 

And they are slow to chance eternal bliss, 
Whate'er befall us hen-pecked lords of earth. 
My drugs have saving here, the priests for yonder, 
And priests are ne'er with them a market drug; 
So I am glad they're going. 

L'Ange. I see your drift : 

You'd have your fortune told. 

Hebert. For me and mine, 

'Twere better it were made. 

L'Ange. For heaven or earth? 

Hebert. No fortune has a market gauge in heaven. 

L'Ange. Then I can tell your fortune just as well 
As priest can do, barring the price. Your palm 
Stretch out: we bards, you know, zre said to have 
The second sight. 

Hebert. If so, we'd better haste 

Within, to keep the devil safely shelved 
In both of us a second-hand for sale. 

L'Ange. But what of setting sail for Canada, 
Your wife and all? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA iii 

Hebert. Ah, time enough for that. 

Couillard, Duchene and P have converse held 
At sundry times, with others of our kind. 
When service once is over, we may talk 
Awhile with those that hap along — Desportes, 
Pivert and others who are hot to hear 
Of this new land. Ho, who comes here? 

Enter M. and Madame Boulle, Champlain and Made- 
moiselle Helene. L'Ange giz'cs them greeting. 
Louis Hebert goes zvithin the church. 

L'Ange. Ah, fair Helene ! Good-morrow to you all ! 
The blessing on the reverends now within 
Is doubly blessed, since you have mustered here. 
May I, poor bardling, take my place with you? 

Boulle. You bing your claim abroad from Canada. 
To rank yourself noblesse or otherwise. 

Madame B. Nay, heed him not, take humble place 
with me, 
And let him else unedge the razor of his wit. 
Champlain is over scars from shaving on the way. 
Beyond my saving him. 'Tis only in a church 
My goodman's satire takes untongued repose. 

Boulle. Or when his wife's asleep. 

Madame B. Come, rescue me 

From his retorts : they are beyond the boil. 

L'Ange. Merci, madame; nay, give me but a word 
With Champlain here. This speaketh prosperously 
For France the new — this fervent priestly move. 



112 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Tidings of Godspeed there is more to tell 
When opportune. The monks have made a stir, 
To give you women for your colony. 
Hebert I've seen, and others of his glow 
To see Quebec or die. The iron is heating ; 
And, when this service nears its last amen, 
I know where we can meet them pertinent. 
To season words. But more of this anon. 
And now, madame, your most submissive slave 
Is all your own, as usher to a seat. 

[They enter the church zvith the thronging wor- 
shippers. Tivo aged priests converse outside 
during the lulls in the senice. 

First Priest. Why has this Charles Bourbon^ been 
so keen 
To call Franciscans to a task severe 
As Mother Church hath known? 

Second Priest. Perchance the choice 

Was made to mollify the heresy, 
That mixes Capuchin and Huguenot 
As cattle of a stripe, both branded poor. 

First P. But never was a Bourbon Huguenot?^" 

Second P. No more than was Coligny diplomat 
And Huguenot, when Medicis was queen ;ii 
No more than is the half-and-half De Monts, 
Nor more than is his second in command, 
This Champlain de Brouage, who, gossips say, 
Would make a queen of fair Helene Boulle. 

First P. You have it all by heart. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 113 

Second P. Nay, more than that ; 

I know what else mishapp'd in Acadie, 
When priest and parson, voiding God's own work, 
Made strife a sanctity of hell let loose. 

First P. What would you have, since thus you do 
complain ? 

Second P. What would I have? One order for one 
field— 
Ad gloriam dei in church and state. 

First P. That is, the RecoUets for Canada? 

Second P. The Recollets? And bane the Jesuits ?^2 

First P. One order for one field you've said yourself. 

Second P. Ay, ay, but that an order full equipped 
For any field, with weapons various-edged. 

First P. And thus of all our orders you would 
choose — 

Second P. The Jesuits for certain, and none other. 
They are the pioneers of Mother Church, 
Daring the shambles of a rotting zeal 
To captivate : ne'er lingering for redress 
As do the veterans of St. Dominic,^^ 
Nor begging for the lees of life, as do 
These saints of homespun garb and sandalled feet. 
For whom the anthem draweth near, within, 
Its final note of farewell ecstasy. 

First P. Ah, now I know, a partizan you'd be, 
A something that the secular priest should shun. 



114 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Second P. Be that as may, 'tis my belief assured 
The Jesuits will sail and yet hold sway 
In Canada, defying every ill 
That thorns the path of martyrdom. 
The peoples westward yonder savage are, 
Their feathered pride and hate and cruelty 
Raising acclaim, in poverty's attire, 
To vice bedecked in valour's running gear. 
To Christianize is no first step for such : 
They must be civilized in part at least — 
Yea, be brought up, before they be brought in. 
And that is what the Jesuits will do — 
The school a-leading to the church's door. 

First P. Perchance these RecoUets will see to that. 

Second P. The Recollets ! The vim to fight is lost 
When begging paves the way. Beseech, implore, 
St. Francis says. Scorch into faithfulness, 
St. Dominic cries. But from the brave Ignace 
There comes command to do or die, or win 
The crown for daring in the Church's cause. 

Enter from the cluirch Louis Hebert and GuillaumK 

COUILLARD. 

First P. Well put, mon frcre, with straight exactitude ; 
Though why the Jesuits, not the Recollets, 
Should pioneer New France with most success 
Must wait a verdict from chief-justice time. 
Meantime Godspeed we'll give them, as they pass. 
See there are two, who'd be as we, to greet 
Them on their way ! What, one of them my friend, 
The druggist round the corner,^* where I buy 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 115 

My snufif, and get an over-change in gossipings ! 
Good day, my son : you've been to church, I see ! 

HUBERT. Ay, for example's sake to better men, 
Who fain would hold a service out of doors 
To complement an altared benison. 
Nay, no rebuke : 'tis we who are in fault, 
Forsaking duty, ere the organ's still, 
To give our restless worldly-mindedness 
A turn, while prating of this Canada. 
This is my neighbour, Guillaume Couillard, 
Who longs for mal-de-mcr so violently. 
That all the bottled drugs upon my shelves 
Will hardly cure him of his fevered wit : 
To Canada he'd wander, coiitc que conte. 

First P. The malady is spreading, then, it seems, 
With wholesale drugs as cureless as retail. 
Methinks a certain vendeur de tahac^^ 
I know is mastered by a like disease : 
To Canada he'd wander, coute que conte, 
Barring the frownings of his comely spouse. 

HUBERT, Ah, father, ev'n a vendeur de tabac 
May sneeze a secret o'er a can of snufif. 
Without its getting wings : these Recollets 
Have not been told my secret, yet their zeal 
Hath mollified my better-half, and voids 
In part the force of your betrayal. 
But here they come, the faithful four of them \^^ 

Enter the Recollets from the church. 

First P. We give you bon voyage, my friends and I, 
The gospel light is safely in your hands. 



ii6 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

To bear across the seas. May God be yours, 
A weal and welcome in the lands beyond, 
Where sunlight waits its Christian counterpart. 

Father Jamay, Bien merci, there is supporting joy 
In expectation and your friendly words. 

Father d'Olbeau. Merci likewise for what you 
pleasing say. 

Father LE Caron. What blessing 'tis when friend- 
ship is sincere. 

Father du Plessis. Quebec and Canada will hear 
of this. 

Hebert. And I would also wish you joy, mes peres. 
With some foreboding in my fickle heart, 
That I may yet have blessing at your hands, 
As one of your parishioners out west. 

Father Jamay. Think you of going thither to re- 
main ? 

Hebert. Ay, even so, mon pcre, if this my friend 
Can find a tinker skilled enough to keep 
The bottom in our luck. 

Father Jamay. What! two of you 

To be our mission-settlers? 

Hebert. Ay, and more ; 

But here comes Monsieur L'Ange and all the rest ; 
And 'twere not badly timed, to supplement 
The solemn anthem with a secular song. 
If my poor, wayward voice may raise the tune. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 117 

Singing by the whole company. 

From afar o'er the seas a message has come — 

The west paying court to the east, 
Begging a Hght from the altars of home, 

To gladden the homes of the west. 
Mont-joie to the fathers who carry the light; 

Peace follow their footsteps of love ; 
Through them let the gospel still measure its might, 

From earth to the heavens above. 

Farewell, gentle peres, 
Accept of our prayers, 

Uplift for your weal. 
Adieu, gentle peres; 
God hear your fond prayers. 

Rewarding your zeal. 

L'Ange. And laud I do the sentiment unique, 
As if the phrasing were my very own. 
A farewell not of sorrow, but of hope 
All France will phrase, echoing from here, 
Where France the New receives her baptism. 

All sing again. 

Bow, then, with cross in hand, 

Raising our prayers in blending throng : 
Viz'e I'eglise! 
Bend, then, as under command. 
Making our vows in solemn song: 
Vive les Recollets! 



ii8 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

[The Fathers, rising from their knees, group them- 
selves around the Boulle circle, zvith Cham- 
plain and Helene Boulle in the fore- 
ground. 

Tableau, all singing. 

Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our z'iz'ats famed in song, 
Viz'e le roi! 
Up, then, to greet the land, 
Raise we our rivals long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur ! 



ACT II. SCENE 3. 

0)1 the zvoodland pathway leading to Hebert's house, 
overlooking the lake-like expansion of the St. 
Lazvrence from the plateau of upper town. 
Etienne Jonquet discovered lingering in the tivi- 
light of a summer's evening, to keep his tryst zvith 
his sweetheart, Anne Hebert. 

Jonquet. She is a jewel in a wilderness 
Of wondrous setting. Would I ward her mine 
From wilderness neglect ? God bless the minx ! 
In any sphere — in country new or old — 
She's fit to shine, a woman of degree, 
A wife to prize in plenty or in want. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 119 

New France is but a step-son to the king, ^ 

Longing for heeding that may never come ; 

Yet would I be this pioneer's son-in-law, 

To fend the daughter from the father's straits, 

While fighting with these traders' selfishness. 

Fie on this sand-blind turpitude, say I, 

That counts these woodlands only peltry wilds. 

And plans a scrimping servitude for us! 

Breathing there is for all and sundry here — 

Freedom's full breathing and its nurture, too ; 

And, if the king — but what's the king of France 

To us, who turns deaf ear to Champlain's plaints. 

And makes of none effect his pioneer-plans, 

To give Quebec its growth ? Ho, some one comes, 

Not with the gossamer pace of her I love. 

Whose step is light as drip of morning dew. 

But with deliberative gait of males, 

Deep in their own concernments. Two of them 

There are. Ah, let me step aside to watch, 

Till Anne comes after them to meet me here. 

Enter Sieur Hebert and Guillaume Couili.ard. 

CouiLLARD. They cannot bar us from our harvestings, 
Nor bane us from the houses we have built — 
God helping us to face with heart the odds 
Of shortened seasons and acquiring skill. 

Hebert. 'Tis more a case of stomach than of heart : 
The brave may live, but foodless we must die. 
And, if the Company only count their pelts, 
Ne'er making tale of toilers' mouths to fill, 
Famine must stalk in time around the fort, -- 

With Indian prowlers near to steal the crumbs. 



120 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

CouiLLARD. Crumbs and our lives to boot, the fiends ! 
Who knows 
What next they'll do, should Champlain pardon them. 
For murder and this massacre fore-planned 
In terror for their scalps. 

HUBERT. Beauchasse has lost 

His hostages,^^ the Recollets their charge, 
And Champlain, when he comes, must cast accounts,^^ 
To show how much a white man's life is worth, 
Measured by beavers' skins. 

CouiLLARD. Beauchasse, Beauchasse, 

Toujours Beauchasse ! Murder is nought to him, 
Save yet another stomach less, as shaves 
He down his rations to starvation's edge — 
Girding — to swell the Company's dividends, 
Whate'er befalls Quebec. 

Hebert. Give me your hand, 

Gviillaume Couillard : our minds are one to fight, 
'In silent concert, for the poor down-trod. 
Till these our pioneer-harvests make us rich. 
Beauchasse would skim the whey of goats, or tithe 
The buttercups afield for growing there. 
Charge us two prices for our pulse and pork, 
And scowl his market-thanks. But such as he 
Go out like penny-dips, before the dawn 
And noonday sheen of democratic rule. 
All compromise with crime, or white or black, 
Must then give way to justice. 

Couillard. Laugh, you jade, 

Till Cupid comes your way ! But what for us 
With penny-dip in hand? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 121 

Hebert. Live as my wife 

And daughters do, on love for all mankind ; 
Or even as Champlain does, to make ends meet, 
Between his mole-eyed masters and our needs. 

CouiLLARD. Champlain, indeed ! Were all like him 
in zeal, 
The colony would be a feast of love. 

Hebert. Safely you say. He is a man of men. 
To live on love he would be married soon. 
And then we'll have him oftener at home. 
To make a town of us. That makes you laugh ; 
But then 'tis said that you should also wed, 
Now that you have a house to shield your bride. 
Ha, ha, Guillaume, there is no tax on wives, 
Beauchasse or no Beauchasse. You've thought of it? 
Is she of France, like Champlain's fair Helene? 

CouiLLARD. You have a daughter, Sieur Hebert. 

Hebert Ay, two of them. 

CouiLLARD. But I have only room at home for one, 
If God will move your heart to give me her. 

Hebert. If God will move her mother's heart, you 
mean. 
'Tis heaven and the women folks who claim 
The patronage of Hymen, dragging oft 
Poor escapading Cupid by the ear 
Out of the way. 

CouiLLARD. Your daughter Anne it is 
I would declare my wife with your consent. 



122 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

[Etienne Jonquet, having patiently kept out of 
sight during the foregoing conversation, looks 
out from behind the trunk of a large tree, 
with anything but satisfaction pictured in his 
face. 

Hebert. 'Tis Anne, you say! With or without her 
love? 
For, if without, she really can't be yours. 

JoNQUET {looking relieved). She really can't be 
yours. 

Hebert. Anne has a mind 

That needs full share of wooing to be won. 

JoNQUET (aside). Ay, to be won. 

CouiLLARD. And yet 'tis Anne I'd win. 

JoNQUET (as an echo). And yet 'tis Anne I'd win. 

Anne Hebert enters from behind and brings her face 
near Jonquet's 

Anne. Nay, is't not Anne 

You've won. Move not, but let us overhear, 
And then we'll know what after-steps to take. 

Hebert. First move to make is yours, not mine, Guil- 
laume, 
Although my weather eye has not been closed 
Of late, as yours has been. 

Jonquet and Anne (in ecstasies). As yours has been ! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 123 

CouiLLARD. Which is your weather eye? 

JoNQUET and Anne (aside). Ay, which is it? 

Hebert, The one on Anne and young Etienne 
Jonquet. 

[The lovers embrace. 

Anne. Shall I run after with a kiss and tell 
Him what a dear old man he is? 

Jonquet. Not yet, 

Ma chere, you might make some mistake. Kiss me 
Instead, and let us give their converse scope 
Beyond the track of this our happiness 
Rounding the winning-post — the prize for me, 
A winsome, loving wife. 

Anne. Ah, poor Guillaume ! 

See how he bows his head and asks no more 
About my father's weather eye? In time, 
Perhaps, that weather eye may light 
Upon him and my sister, as on us. 
I would not have him sad for very long: 
He's good, and has been kind to all of us, 
Though he has forced me to betray my love 
To one who thinks it his. Etienne Jonquet ! 
See yonder have they silent disappeared 
Where the Grande Place spreads^^ outward from the fort 
That overlooks the Habitation. 
Let us walk thitherward to count the stars. 



124 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Song. 

Out from the fringe of the primal grove, 
There cometh a voice from the stars ; 
It whispers of love from the far-off above, 

From Venus aglow unto Mars. 
To you and to me, in the ebb of the sea, 

The echoes much nearer belong; 
How they vibrate the soul, beyond our control : 
" I love you, my love," is their song. 
Refrain — 

Live love, linger love, 
'Tis the song of heaven and earth : 

Greet love, meeting love, 
Under the stars in their mirth. 

Mark you the tress of the moonlight's sheen, 

How it silkens the face of the sea : 
Its dimples play peep, from the tide-smiling deep, 

With peace running winsome and free. 
How fair is all this, blowing bliss and a kiss, 

To life that would ever be strong; 
'Tis the saintship of love, from the far-off above, 

" I love you, my love," is its song. 
Refrain — Live love, linger love, etc. 

There is shadow and sheen in the gloaming hour, 

Its message comes nearer and near ; 
God hallows the song that's dispassioned of wrong : 

The shadows for us have no fear. 
Then pledge we the vow of our ever and now, 

The mirth of the stars to prolong; 
Let us take up the strain, that has ken of no wane. 

With " Love me, my love," for its song. 
Refrain — Live love, linger love, etc. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 125 

ACT 11. SCENE 4- 

Madame Anne Jonquet (nee Anne Hebert) dis- 
covered seated in front of the Hebert homestead — 
ill the open space overlooking the outer harbour 
of Quebec, and its outlet channels on either side 
of the Island of Orleans. Hers had been one of 
the tirst marriages solemnised by the Recollets in 
the colony of Neiv Prance; and nozv, zvith the 
prospect of motherhood upon her, the scenes of her 
ozvn childhood recur to her mind, as she tunefully 
murmurs a song all by herself. Her husband has 
been absent for a season in the woods. 

Afar o'er the ocean, whose dangers men dare, 

To tempt expectation's reward, 
There cometh an echo of cheer in the air, 

To the children of France mounting guard — 
Away, far away, in this land of the new, 
Where love maketh ransom of sorrow in view, 
Where, only for love, our hopes were but few. 

Etienne Jonquet, her husband, having just arrived 
from his excursion, replies to his zvife's song, all 
unseen, from the grove near by. 

Away from the wilds the coureur's-de-bois roam,^'' 

In search of the wealth hid therein. 
There cometh a message presaging of home. 

To those who'll enjoy what they win : 
There was a home yonder, there is a home here. 
And love brings the message nearer and near, 
The solvent supreme that casteth out fear. 
9 



126 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

JoNQUET. Ah, loved one, you surely did not think 
The woods would be insensate to your voice, 
Even were your husband on a distant trail, 
With him, my namesake,^^ and the rest of them. 
I have returned all well to find you well, 
Though mellow-toned from matron worthiness. 
And love a-challenging despondency. 
Beloved Anne, 'tis glad I am to kiss you glad : 
Nay, what else need we long for in our joy? 
And, if we guess what these fond kisses bear 
Of prophecy, how dangerously inane 
Becomes all sadness, in our ecstasy 
Of love for love, of faith for faith, of hope 
For hope. 

Anne. You have been far away and long. 

JoNQUET. And you've been sad for lack of lover's 
talk. 
Despite the cheer of kindred near. Nay, nay. 
Sweet face, these tears are out of place, if aught 
Of anguish taints their pearl drops. 'Tis love 
That weeps, and love must kiss love's tears away. 
Come, sit upon my lap, and hear a tale. 
The first I have to tell, now I am home, 
With store of others for your hungry ear — 
A tale to make New France a-birth with joy, 
All else delayed in telling. Think of it ; 
The master would be married. ^^ 

Anne. Who? Champlain? 

JoNQUET. Yea, of a truth, the governor himself. 

Anne. To Eustache Boulle's sister, yet a child? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 127 

JoNQUET. To Monsieur Boulle's daughter, woman 
grown : 
I knew you'd surely guess aright. 

Anne. To live 

With her in Canada, as man and wife? 

JoNQUET. Ay, here to find prolonged abode with ns. 
And other menseful married folk. Ha, ha, 
I thought you'd smile to hear the gladsome news ! 
When we espoused, the first in this lone land, 
Some little noise was made, and merriment, 
Barring the frowns of poor Guillaume Couillard ; 
But now the faucets of a country's joy 
Must run full tap, to celebrate aglee 
The coming of Quebec's first chatelaine. 

Anne. Methinks she'll find her chateau's glebe un- 
kempt, 
With weather leakings in its roof and walls. 
Neglect and ruin run amuck of late. 
Her brother and the good old Pontgrave 
Had much ado to caulk"^^ its gaping chinks 
Against the zero siftings in and out, 
And springtide's drippings, while they housed therein ; 
And naught's been done to make it fit abode, 
Since then, for one brought up in luxury's lap. 

Jonquet. Well thought of, gentle one ! But luxury's 
lap 
Has seldom weaned a maid to hie away 
From refuge on a husband's lap. Madame ! 
Is this your answer from the lap that's yours? 
Come, kiss away the pain you thus inflict. 



128 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Helene Boulle, the maid, is none the less 
The lover and beloved than you are mine — 
She to be wedded, you a wedded wife ; 
And love's the hill of hope o'erlooking all 
The gifts of Hymen, waving them aside — 
Sweet fate defying fate and all its woes 
Prospective. You the chatelaine will love 
As others do — God bless them all for it! 
Nay, more — a blessing it will be to her 
To know the Hebert household, as it's been 
To me. 

Anne. Scant as you are of haste to greet 
Them after your return. 

JoNQUET. Ah, minx ingrate ! 

Is't thus unfair you throw the tempter's gage, 
Before my tale be done? Bien revoir! 
Good day, madame! I'll hie me there at once! 

Anne. Nay, stay, dear Etienne, yet awhile with me. 
'Twas but the glee of courting days come back. 
The witch is in me yet, though mellow-toned, 
As you have said. I long to hear your tale 
Complete. How came you by the tidings? 
When will the wedding be, and where be spent 
The honeymoon, before our welcome bids 
The Habitation be ready in and out, 
To grace the coming of our chatelaine? 
Now, take me up again and tell me all. 
Nay, let me sit. Some one may come this way. 
Look ! I am right : some one is on the hill : 
Guillaume Couillard is in the step approaching. 
See there ! his sombre face surmounts the slope. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 129 

Invite him in to hear the wondrous news ; 
Then call the others hither — dear Guillemette, 
Madame la mere, my father, too, perchance. 

C0UILI.ARD approacJies at the call of Jonquet. 

Bonjoiir, Guillaunie, my husband has returned : 
He's just arrived and goes to warn the house, 
That he is here with me. The news he brings 
Is worth the telling. What think you such can be? 

CouiLLARD. Alas, sweet Anne, you know how far 
askew 
My poor divining cap has ever been. 

Anne. In love affairs your own. But you can guess, 
Beyond all cozening, what befalls the maid. 
Steadfast in love, and true to her betrothal. 

CouiLLARD. Marriage, divorce, or death. 

Anne. The answer's blunt. 

As is your wont, now you are soured at love. 
The first is guess enough to solve the truth 
Of Champlain's destiny. 

CouiLLARD. Champlain! How now? 

Is't he who's married? 

Anne. Nay, nay, not yet; 

But he will marry soon, as wise men do. 
And, dear Guillaume, I've thought you very wise. 

CouiLLARD. Before you met Jonquet. 



I30 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Anne;. Before and since. 

Champlain but shows the way, as e'er he does, 
To prove New France a Hving place for souls, 
Where social law may reign a happiness. 
Marriage or death, you've said — ^ah, not divorce, 
Which savours of a world where love is dead — 
May come to those betrothed, and I would see 
You safe betrothed before I die — perchance 
A married man — to shrift me from the weight 
Of having pained a heart as true as thine. 
I know full well the anguish you have borne — 
How you have loved me. 'Tis no sinfulness 
To tell you so, with Etienne all my own — 
Dearest to me, as God and heaven should be 
To those whom death has laid a hand upon, 

C0UILI.ARD. Anguish and death! Why speak you 
thus, dear Anne? 
You're Jonquet's wife, yet still my best beloved. 
Avaunt the morbid thought, God giving grace 
To fend us from the semblancy of sin. 
Oh, Anne, you break my heart, as break you will 
The hearts of all — of Etienne and your kin — 
By christening death companion of your love. 
Root out the croaking of a dread so sad ; 
Reserve your strength of will as you were wont. 
Remorse were mine to claim you've brought me pain: 
Remorse were bitter, were it mine to slight. 
By thought or word or deed, your strange behest, 
To follow pattern, a la Benedict, 
When Champlain's bride has reached my " guess 

enough." 
Nay, nay, sweet Anne, look not so sad of eye : 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 131 

I am not funning with your seriousness. 
I love you still, responsive to my heart; 
And yet, obedient unto Jonquet's wife, 
I'll do her will as faithful as a spouse, 
And marry me the wife she wise may choose, 
To fill the gap 'twas hers alone to fill. 

Anne. Dear, good Guillaume, there is no gap in life: 
It comes and goes, but yet is never gone ; 
And I would have you happy, that is all. 
See, yonder come Etienne and dear Guillemette, 
Across the sward to welcome you within. 

CouiLLARD. These be the twain Hebert should first 
have matched, 
And left my Anne heart-whole to marry me. [An aside. 

Anne. Guillemette, Guillaume ! These names well 
pair in sound, 
And love oft sings her songs alliterate. [A:: aside. 

If you were married, with a daughter born, 
How, think you, would your wife, Guillaume, desire, 
From love of you, to have the child baptized? 

CouiLLARD. In terms of Holy Church! 

Anne. But by what name? 

CouiLLARD. Were you my wife, I'd have it christened 
Anne. 

Anne. I'd have it named Guillemette, were I your 
wife. 

CouiLLARD. And I would be content, as dutiful 
Whichever wav vou'd choose. 



132 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Anne. Guillemette, Guillaume! 

Are constant names, one helpmeet to the other: 
Come hither, 'Mette, and greet Guillaume : of you 
We have been thinking. Kneel you by my side. 
With grouping from us all as in a picture, 
And I will sing you something from my heart, 

Anne sings. 

Guillemette and Guillaume, with nest for their home, 
Are happy as ever the daylight is long ; — 

GuiLi^EMETTE. Fie, fie, dear Anne, you are not well. 
Your arm, 
My dear, and we will go within. 

Anne". a verse, 

And only one, and then I will retire. 

Anne continues singing. 

With hearts beating true, their vows they renew, 

In proof of the love that is strong. 
Ah, could I be there, the sweetness to share, 

To flutter that nest with my glee — 
I'd kiss you, my dear, and lisp in your ear, 

The happiness mothers foresee. 

Refrain of Anne's song — 

Loving is living, and death is no dying. 

Is song for the day and the night — 
The song of retreat from the sin and the sighing, 

To the realm where all love finds its might. 

[Anne faints and is carried ivithin. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 133 

CouiLLARD. The love that glows prophetic, such as 
this. 
While braving pain, and even daring death — 
Though dying, surely, is not hers as yet. 
If God be wise — such love aglow illumes 
The sordid soul and burns, from nerve to vein. 
The sense of worship in a man. Worship of whom? 
Of God, or woman born of womankind? 
Of one who reacheth not my Anne's morale f 
Let me be wise and not grow mad. Here comes 
Her husband, ah, her husband, God forgive : 
Stay, friend Jonquet, your wife — what of your wife? 
She is not dead or dying, struck by death? 

Jonquet. She is not well, and I must hie for help.^* 

CouiLi^ARD. And I may hie me for my help also. 
Alas, the agony that's bred of love 
And lonesomeness ! What would the world be 
For man, were there no women in it ? Laugh ! 
The damned are said to laugh, when no reply 
Is theirs. Sweet Anne Hebert is only wed : 
She is not dead, and there's one woman left 
For me to love, to worship. Hie for help. 
Waiting to wait again, waiting to wait. 



134 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

ACT II. SCENE 5. 

Guillaume; CouilIvARD discovered sauntering around the 
Grande Place, or open space near the outer edge 
of the Stadacona ivoods, and thus soliloquising on 
the death of Anne Jonquet and the affairs of 
the colony. 

CouiELARD. She's dead ! ay, months ago, sublimed 
from what 
She was to what she is, the same, perchance. 
In spirit, only escaped environment 
And all its disabilities of love. 

Her babe died with her, whom her husband grieves. 
Not she, returned her own so soon again. 
Her kindred's tears unburden them : they mourn 
With one another. Ay, but what of me, 
Unbidden guest to join my grief with theirs, 
Despite her own request that I should wed 
Her sister? Was it sacrilege for her 
To burn a solemn candle thus to love? 
Dare we maintain there's binding in a troth 
Where love is not, though death be sanctity ? 
And yet, ay, even yet, the thought me throbs : 
Could it have been a heaven-born vow of hers, 
To have me wed Guillemette ? And, vow for vow, 
Who is the sponsor of that pledge save me, 
Leaving it unredeemed, now she is dead? 
Champlain, she claimed, was taking him a bride, 
To prove New France a living place for souls, 
Where social law should reign a happiness. 
" All wise men marry," were her very words, 
" And I have thought you very wise." Ah, me ! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 135 

For now the message comes that Champlain brings 

His fair Helene to Canada in spring — 

A message full of meaning to us all. 

Could Anne have counselled what was indiscreet? 

Would I have shunned the pledge were she in life? 

Shall I her pain, now she has more of life ? 

Alas ! What man is wise with thoughts like these, 
When there is work to do? Hebert and I 
Have made us homes — no miracles of taste 
Or comfort, yet the harbingers of what 
Quebec may boast, with industry afoot. 
The Recollets' zeal has shamed the State's neglect: 
Their church near by, their monastery beyond. 
Give token of their striving piety 
And cure of souls. Near and beyond, they risk 
Their ease, to sow the seeds of truth. Early 
And late, they faithful dig and plant and reap — 
Giving ensample, secular and divine. 
To all who would revise their lives aright. 
But where's the growth ? Nay, rather, what's the shame ? 
Grief turns the edge of calumny, or one 
Might urge his ire against what keeps Quebec 
From spreading sail. The greed for dividends, 
Sectarian spite, and trading rivalries, 
Beauchasse's graft and warehouse tyranny, 
Breeding an idleness among the poor — 
These be the canker ills that perforate 
All thrift, and stunt the country's growth. Champlain! 
" A name to conjure with," says Pontgrave; 
But what has all the conjuring done for us? 
There is the Habitation below, 
A semblance of decay to be restored : 
Yonder the lines are laid to wall his fort, 



136 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

With only hope deferred a-building it : 
His explorations and his tribal wars 
Have brought him fame and expectation, 
But little growing to his entrepot: 
What then? Is't ever thus to be a raid 
From hand to mouth, with worn-out patience, 
Waiting to wait again, waiting to wait. 

Enter Hebert and Pontgrave. 

Hebert. So, ho, Guillaume Couillard, 'tis you who 
guard 
Needless the ramparts of the fort to be ! 
Friend Pontgrave his counsel vends to me, 
And espionage makes of what's in store for us 
When once the wind veers fair. Champlain, he claims, 
Comes armed at last, the king his gage. 
With ample powers, second to Montmorenci's, 
To rule a lord-in-chief in Canada, 
With civic jurisdiction over all. 
So all may yet be well. 

Couillard. He brings a wife? 

Pontgrave. Ha, ha, how scents the bachelor his 
rights, 
Detecting reservation in the sway 
Of even a monarch absolute ! Well ta'en, 
Couillard ; but it were better far for you 
To follow suit and give him countenance. 
Risking a woman's rule to ampHfy your own. 

Couillard. Where will he house her, as she should 
be housed, 
A viceroy's spouse? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 137 

PoNTGRAVE. The Company may do 

What handsome does, to cultivate good faith. 

CouiLLARD. The Company will do what it has done, 
Unless the law compel it : that is, nothing 
Which may impair its spoils and dividends. 
The Jews esteemed the Gentiles as a law 
Unto themselves, and so may we regard 
Monopoly — the main chance for its law ; 
Its meum and its titum find their source 
In number one, the only deity 
Beauchasse has found within his holy writ. 

PoNTGRAVE. But now the rascal's testament is torn. 
And you may laugh him safely out of court, 
For charging double at his masters' wink. 
Champlain has just withstood these robbers' leer 
And their demands for gain ; and, when his ship 
Is moored, we'll greet him as our governor 
In word and deed, one born to rule aright. 

Hebert. So there, Guillaume, what better n-.vs than 
that? 
Quebec will grow apace. The fort will rise, 
Protective of us all. Our chatelaine 
Will be our queen. The law will reign supreme. 

PoNTGRAVE. And this our friend Couillard will marry 
soon 
Some maiden fair on shipboard or on shore. 

Hebert. 'Twill be a glorious sight. 

PoNTGRAVE. Ay, which the most? 

The Couillard wedding or Champlain's return — 



138 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The one a prelude to the other ? There ! 

I'm done with gasconading; let us bring 

Our heads together with the priests', to make 

The most of both events. To-morrow meet 

Me at the Habitation, to plan, 

With proper expectation, the eclat 

Of what should be a masterpiece of joy. 

[Exit PONTGRAVE. 

CouiLLARD. The mariner's droll. 

Hebert. Ay, droll indeed, 

As storms at sea and christened conscience make them. 

CouiLLARD. 'Twas in a raging storm I was when you 
And he came traversing my trail. 

Hebert. A storm? 

CouiLLARD. A veritable avalanche of ire ! 

Hebert. Against? 

CouiLLARD. The waywardness of love and fate. 

Hebert. And we? 

CouiLLARD. Did turn the storm aside in me. 

Hebert. Bravo for us, and safe relief for you! 
'Twas surely Pontgrave who lulled your wrath 
By the assurance of his news. You've called him droll : 
But, true as steel, he never fails a friend. 
He has been overcoming storms and storms, 
Year in, year out, braving the ominous clouds. 
Cleaving the Atlantic mists, riding its waves, 
Daring the dangers of its unknown shore?. 
For others and the spread of France's trade. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 139 

CouiLLARD. He has dispersed my cloud. 

Hebert. What cloud is that? 

CouiLLARD. The cloud of your bereavement and mine 
own. 

Hebert. Nay, nay, Guillaume, that cannot be dis- 
persed. 
Alas, poor Jonquet and the rest of us ! 
Why speak of it? 

CouiLLARD. Because I loved her, too. 

Hebert. You loved her, too ? 

CouiLLARD. And would have married her. 

Hebert. Alas ! alas ! the cloud of my bereavement ! 
No mariner, though droll, can that disperse — 
Denser than all I've seen in Canada. 

CouiLLARD. She is an angel now. 

Hebert. True, true, Guillaume, 

She is an angel, as she ever was. 
You loved her ; yea, and so you truly did, 
As did we all, and I the most of all. 
Ay, ay, Guillaume, compassionate my grief. 
I would be home : do you not feel the chill 
The moonlit harbour wafts this way? Give me 
Your arm, and we will go at once down-by. 

CouiLLARD. She would not marry me. 

Hebert. She loved Jonquet. 



I40 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

CouiLLARD. She did, and yet she made me vow to 
wed. 

Hebert. She made you vow to wed? 

CouiLLARD. And Pontgrave 

Would have me wed. 

Hebert. Ay, so I heard him say. 

CouiLLARD. You have a daughter still? 

Hebert. Ma chcrc Guillemette? 

Ay, so I have ; but let us go at once, 
The chill is in my bones. 

CouiLLARD (aside). While I have thus 

Been getting it from mine. 



ACT n. SCENE 6. 

The residents of Quebec assembled near the Cnl-de-Sac 
and the RecoUets' chapel, to azvait the arrival of 
the vessel ivhich Cham plain, Madame Cham- 
PLAiN, her brother, Eustache Boulle, and a 
goodly company of new settlers are reported to 
he on hoard of. Pontgrave, Sieur Hebert, 

GuILLAUME CouiLLARD, ABRAHAM MaRTIN, and 

others, zvith the Recollet missionaries, are prom- 
inently in charge of the celebration of the gov- 
ernor's arrival. Sieur PIebert has been training 
the company to sing one or tzvo French choruses 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 141 

for the occasion, while scouts are on the qui vive 
to report the approach of the vessel up the channel. 
A fringe of Indians surround the grouping of the 
celebrants. 

Hebert. Once more the chorus, keeping time with 
voice ! 
We'll ring the welkin with our loudest cheer 
Before the anchor's dropped. 

Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Viz'e le roi! 
Up, then, in sight of land, 
Raise we our znz'ats long and strong, 
Viz'C le gouverneur ! 

Bravo ! you have it pat, accent and all : 
Hence to the church, to await the final call. 
While praying for Quebec and those who come. 
To make it more and more the pioneer's home. 

The Recollcts lead the procession into the church, Guil- 
LAUME and GuiLLEMETTE CouiLLARD, recently 
married, bringing up the rear, zvith greetings from 
all. A chant sounds from zvithin. After a pause, 
the scouts rush on the stage, but are restrained 
from making any immediate announcement. At 
length a first gun is fired from the ship. Reply 
is made from the shore. Then there is a hurrying 
from the church tozvard the zvings, as if to see the 
vessel at anchor; and finally the nezv arrivals dis- 
embark, headed by Champlain and Madame 
Champlain. 
10 



142 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Song and Chorus, accentuated by salvos from the river 
and the land. 

Hail to the hero who comes with hope in hand, 
To bring Quebec good cheer as heretofore ! 

Hail to his consort who comes to bless the land ! 
Hail to our chatelaine, vive evermore ! 

Up, then, with cap in hand, 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, in sight of land, 
Raise we our liivts long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur ! 

Champlain. These strains I've heard before ; merci, 
my friends : 
They bring a welcome double-toned sincere, to me 
And mine. God grant you bcncdicite, 
Made doubly sacred by the benediction 
These fathers of the Church will first pronounce 
Over our coming. 

The Recollets head the procession into the church, chant- 
ing a sacred march. When all is silent zvithin, 
two Coureurs-de-bois discuss events, in the open 
space in front of the church. 

First Cour. She's as beautiful as the Madonna in a 
picture, and that should give us heart. 

Second Cour. Beautiful as a lie is surely no high 
praise to award our governor's wife : whoever saw a 
Madonna in a picture true to what it stands for? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 143 

First Cour. If yoii be a Huguenot, perhaps you can 
put it better than I can. 

Second Cour. Call a man a horse and tabulate his 
tail. I would say she is the most beautiful of French 
women, more beautiful by far than any Jewish peasant 
possibly could be, in a picture or out of it ; but that 
would not be orthodox. 

First Cour. Ah, now I know you are a Huguenot. 

Second Cour. And who says that a Huguenot is not 
as much of a Frenchman as you are? Do you know 
what would happen were you to become a Huguenot? 

First Cour. No, what would happen? 

Second Cour. You would be as much of a French- 
man as I am, and not one whit worse as a citizen. You 
would be as good a subject to the king, as faithful a 
servant to the governor, and as orthodox an admirer 
of the governor's wife as there is going. 

First Cour. Just like Pontgrave, I suppose, who is 
the good-better-and-best mariner that there is going, as 
I have heard you say, when you fell foul of him in your 
encomiums. 

Second Cour. But he is neither a better nor a worse 
mariner because he is a Huguenot. 

First Cour. Yet, for all that, he is a Huguenot. 

Second Cour. And if he be, what then? 

First Cour. And this Madame Champlain is also a 



144 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Huguenot, though they say her husband didn't know of 
it too soon, as many others in this burning and shining 
colony are, who will have to get their conge, if the coun- 
try is to prosper as the king would have it. 

Second Cour. That is surely a kind of a mixed judg- 
ment, since you have just declared to me that a Hugue- 
not may look like the Madonna in a picture. Quite a 
compliment, isn't it, to at least one poor Huguenot, since 
all the rest in your opinion are good-for-nothings. 

First Cour. I wish you could hear Eustacbe BouUe, 
Madame Champlain's brother, descant on the saintship 
of these Huguenot smugglers and poachers who escaped 
him lately down near Bic. 

Second Cour. But how does that piece out your 
doggerel about Huguenots? Eustache BouUe is a 
Huguenot, as you say his sister is — the one as beautiful 
as a Madonna in a picture, the other with a praiseworthy 
verdict against poachers in his mouth. Perhaps you 
will be claiming soon that the Recollets are Huguenots 
because they are not Jesuits. 

First Cour. Ah, would that they were Jesuits! 

Second Cour. How is that? 

First Cour. Because, as Jesuits, they would soon put 
a stopper on the canting throats of all these long-faced 
psalm singers, and paint the white of their eyes a less 
turned-up shade. 

Second Cour. Beware, young man, and keep a 
smoother tongue in your head, or some sudden stopper 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 145 

may smash in your front windows. Champlain has 
hardly any need for poachers of any kind in his realm, 
neither against the Company's monopoly in peltries, nor 
in church affairs. The priests and parsons of Port 
Royal didn't give the pioneers of Acadie such a fine 
time of it that Champlain or any of us should long for 
a three-cornered fight in New France among Recollets, 
Jesuits and Huguenot converts. 

First Cour. Yet, all the same, the Jesuits are looking 
forward, I am told, to being in Canada soon. 

Second Cour. Then, say I, as an honest Huguenot, 
let them come ; and, as an honest Frenchman, let them 
be welcome, as all incomers should be, to these western 
wilds that are crying out for a civilized and a civilizing 
population. But 'twere better we should change the 
subject. I can listen to the sweet chanting of the priests, 
evvin if you cannot abide the psalm-singing of the Hugue- 
nots, your French compatriots. How the solemn sounds 
from the little church come echoing down to the water's 
edge and farther! Is there anything more affecting 
than this listening from the outside to the worship of 
one's own ? Would there were more settlers here to-day 
to greet our governor, be his wife Catholic or Huguenot! 

First Cour. Pie himself is never likely to be the latter, 
if the edict of the king is to be maintained. 

Second Cour. That for another time ! The service 
was to be short, and here they come ! There is no time 
for further reply to a man who has seen the Madonna 
in a picture and has taken her for a Huguenot, and is 
even now anxious to see her again, as she comes from 
a Catholic church. 



146 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Enter Champi^ain and Madame Champl,ain, with the 
congregation, resuming their places in the little 
square in front of the church. 

Song and Chorus. 

Again we greet the approved-of regal choice. 
Accept the blessings God and Church outpour: 

Heaven lending favour, circumstance and voice. 
To fill the land with joy from shore to shore. 

Up, then, with cap in hand. 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Vive le roH 
Up, then, in sight of land. 
Raise we our vivats long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur ! 

Cham plain. A word to all, revealing the intent 
And purpose of the king's 4ecree revised ! 
Our friend, le Monsieur Guars, Commisionaire, 
Will read for us the terms on which now rest 
The claims of civic oversight and trade. 
As helpmeets to colonial growth. Henceforth, 
Whate'er neglect has left of hope deferred 
Within the compass of our enterprise, 
Must be effaced by quickened industry. 
Crowned by the fruits of individual zeal. 
The king has promised armament, to enforce 
His sovereignty, a fort besides to guard 
These heights, and what else needs the dignity 
Of rule, to keep in check the foes of peace ; 
While from the Company's revenues appraised 
The colony will reap a tithe its own. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 147 

Thus infant progress, holding out its arms 

A-balance on the edge of pioneer-luck 

Will find a safer footing on the wider ground 

Whereon the ebb and flow of purpose makes 

For gain and growth and consequence to all. 

The times are ripe. The king would have the west 

A harvest field of yielding enterprise, 

With virtue seeding in the Church and State, 

'Mid loyalty a-bloom in every heart. 

And here I stand, his messenger and yours, 

To implement the tidings far and wide, 

Throughout this realm of vast resource. 

As Monsieur Guers may formal now announce. 

A French national air sung by all. M. Gukrs reads 
the King's Proclamation. 

Cham PLAIN. These be the terms of mandate uncon- 
cealed ; 
And now the social may usurp the solemn. 
While I present this lady here, a friend 
Of yours and mine. Madame Champlain, my wife 1 
The neighbours in our western home, Helene ! 
You've heard me speak of Sieur Hebert before : 
His house is on the hill. Madame Hebert 
Has welcome in her eye for you, ma chere, 
Betokening prize of friendship in the days 
To come. Madame Couillard! What Guillaume's wife? 
Ah, now 'tis bride to entertain a bride. 
And make us feel at home. Madame Hebert, 
I leave you with these ladies twain in charge 
To blend the friendships of your kind, while I, 
With your good husband's aid, Madame Couillard, 



148 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The staid Guillaume, your wisest choice of mate, 
Seek out old comrades to enheart us all. 

{Huzzas from the settlers, and a pressing nea) 
for recognition. 

Merci, my friends, to one and all of you ! 
But there, the ship sends warning note 
To bid us all on board, a blend of old 
And new, to celebrate, rejoicing to rejoice. 
In common plea around the festive board, 
Quebec now come of age. List to the lads, 
With lusty strain echoing the cannon's mirth ! 

Song and Chorus. 

Hey, ho, for the feting, the grace and the greeting 
Of France blessing those of her own ! 

Give way to the joying of kinship convoying 
The coming of kinship's renown. 

Refrain — • 

From the brooklet's fond glee to the far-swelling sea, 
Our land claims the rights of the free. 

All singing. 

Hey, ho, for the gladness of hearts shrift of sadness, 

Forgetting the days of lament ! 
Hey, ho, for the feting, the grace and the greeting 

Of France bringing gifts of content! 

Refrain — 

From the brooklet's fond glee to the far-swelling sea, 
Our land is the land of the free ! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 149 

[The echo of the refrain is heard from the shore 
as if from a distance, and is taken up by the 
company on the stage, as the curtain falls on 
the last scene of the Second Act. 

From the brooklet's fond glee to the far-swelling sea, 
New France is the home of the free. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 151 



ACT III. SCENE I. 

A room in the Habitation. Champlain and Madame 
Champlain seated at the breakfast table. The 
little Indian girls, Hope and Charity, whom 
Madame Champlain has adopted as the first- 
fruits of her mission school, are to be seen playing 
around the room at the close of the morning 
repast. 

Champlain. The ideal and the real strange neigh- 
bours make : 
The sordid and the false the latter heat 
And scald its temper with discrepancies. 
And you, alas, ma chere, have had brought home, 
How far the twain of them do graze apart, 
With little else for fodder save distrust. 

Madame C. The happiness that's real in these, my 
charge 
In trust as if of God, brings no distrust 
To my ideal of a mother's love ; 
Their happiness I share as looker-on. 

Champlain. Would there were innocence akin to 
such 
In the outdoor restlessness 'tis mine to free 
From trumpery jealousies of creed and trade 



152 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

And ire of selfishness. This is no place, 
I ween, where such as you should be — rough-housed 
As if on camping-ground, though mettle-edged 
To bear worse stress to come. 

Madame C. Nay, nay, to share 

The straits my husband bears is fair divide, 
As even Hope and Charity in play 
Do oft illustrate in their give and take. 
Their elders, too, though famished, often peer 
Into my trinket looking-glass,^ and read 
Me heart's content, a-lessoned in their smile 
And peace of mind, surmounting hardship's straints. 

Champlain. The smile and peace of mind, I trow, 
that comes 
From thought of being in an angel's keep — 
A peace of mind my own, whene'er I ruminate 
On what you've left, to be with me and want. 

Madame C. Our table wears no sign of want as yet ; 
And, hap what may, our love will last awhile, 
To brave the Company's lack of soul-regard. 
The good old Pontgrave has sent supplies 
From Tadousac ; and, when the spring returns, 
Our housing here, sore winter-weathered old, 
Will do its own impleading as a suitor, 
Claiming renewal. 

Champlain. When I think — 

Madame C. Ay, think 

To think and discompose yourself o'er ills 
That will undo themselves if let alone — 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 153 

Champlain. Nay, while I think how hope gave im- 
petus. 
When Guers read earnest in the king's decree, 
And we made garment of the worst to look 
The best, amid the general merriment, 
There is but shame and shivering from the rents 
111 faith has torn anew. 'Twas mine, by right 
Of governor, to curb all lawlessness — 
To lure the peltry pirates from their haunts,^ 
And give them chase and penalty ; 
But now the Viceroy, balking at the expense^ 
Of armament to make pursuit of them, 
Has permit sanctioned, paramount to what 
The king afore decreed. 'Twas yesternight 
The news arrived from Tadousac. But why 
Should I recount the plaints of state to one 
The commonwealth has been at pains 
To miss providing for with fit abode? 
The record of its negligence is in these walls, 
With chinks for commas in its rhetoric 
And climax-pause in chateau still unbuilt. 

Madame C. The rivalry should breed more enter- 
prise, 
From which the colony may find relief. 

Champlain. The rivalry will breed disturbance first. 
With me for umpire till the times are sane : 
Alas, a thankless task, when ignorance reigns 
A blinded partisan in hamlet or in kingdom. 

Come hither, chits, and drive away dull care! 
Your school hour's come, and I would hear you read. 
If your protector — ay, and mine, Helene! — • 



154 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Will ward you in your stumbling letter-gait. 
I see you've been a-building, as I would be ; 
And so I kiss the angel-hand that showed 
You how, as it would sweetly show me, too. 
God bless it for the goodness ! Hope, come here, 
And sit upon my knee, while Charity, 
Your sister, reads the words she has been taught, 
As I am taught the lesson every day 
That love begetteth patience. 

While the lesson is proceeding, Sieur Hebert, an- 
nounced, appears and gives greeting. 

Champlain. Ah, 'tis you, 

Hebert : pardonne, the Procureur du Roi, 
Save for the king's endorsement on the seal.* 

Hebert. Bxcusez-moi, madame : I did not think 
To interrupt you en famille. 

Madame C. Nay, nay, 

'Tis only lesson time, and I will take 
The garden for its desinance. 'Revoir, 
Messieurs. Come, children, let us read the sky! 

Hebert. 'Tis there where angels read: 'tis there, I 
trow, 
Where you will meet in time my daughter Anne. {Aside. 

Cham PLAIN. Moonstruck by sunstroke from a ma- 
tron's grace. [Aside. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 155 

So, ho, Hebert, you're pale as fear of death ! 

Whence comes that mixed look? Is there more news? 

Hebert. Ah, monsieur gouverneur , there's naught 
but news — 
The news the devil weaves on land and sea. 
Poor Courseron, the constable,^ is ill abed 
From saving yesternight your cellar bins, 
And after-stalking of the thieves athirst ; 
And now Beauchasse, the Company's clerk, comes home 
At dawn from Tadousac, with all his goods 
For barter still unmarketed ; while he, 
A-chattering in his teeth like chimpanzee 
Pursued, declares aloud the Huguenots 
Are on their way to seize Quebec and dump 
It, neck and crop, into the Cul-de-Sac. 

Champlain. So, ho, neglect comes home to roost at 
last! 
Who was't unstrung the poor man's rabbit nerves? 

Hebert. Captain Dumay and Monsieur Guers he met 
Astream, armed to the hilt of their avowal. 
With writ credentials from the viceroy-duke. 

Champlain. How was their vessel armed? 

Hebert. Ah, that, he says, 

We'll know by noon, when it arrives in port. 

Champlain. Were there marines on board beside 
the crew? 

Hebert. He saw but three, he savs. 



156 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Champlain. Ah, possibly 

To vaunt their master's swagger ! Did they deign 
To tell his terror aught we do not know ? 

HeberT. Were it not well that I should bring him 
here? 

Champlain. What, the wicked clerk? 

Hebert. The same ; and on my way 

I may catch glimpse of Monsieur Guers, and bring 
Him, too, if he be moored at Storehouse Point. 

Champlain. The more of messengers you muster 
me, 
The ampler will we know what to believe. 
I thank you for your zeal, Hebert, 
And will await the issue of your search. 

[Exit SiEUR Hebert. 

Champlain. Now comes the baking of a ducal dish, 
That's like to be but humble pie for me. 
There's in it promise of much pungency 
Of spice, howe'er the ingredients prove as weak 
Of nurture to the body politic 
As heretofore. Alas, for us, Helene ! 
For you, the tender-reared in luxury, 
But now a chatelaine whose chateau's yet 
To build, while cruel ills are round agape 
And howling in the neighbourhood, enough 
To pale the bravery of love in both of us. 
And breed in me despair ! When I make count 
Of my demands, promised yet unfulfilled, 
And notch the years of unrequited toil — 
Exploring, trading, warring, for the good 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 157 

Of France, and what might come to pass in this 

Her reahn extended, there is nought for me, 

Beyond the gifting of my poor assets 

To what men call the law of compensation. 

And then to watch its balance turn which way 

It may, with no regard for me or mine. 

Within the Stadacona woods, in view 

Of every splendour of the landscape's face, 

I once made solemn vow to sink all claims 

For wealth my own in this new enterprise ; 

And I would keep that vow in sight of God 

And man, even to a final make or spoil. 

But what of my Helene? Through vow of mine. 

Is she to sufifer still, under the stress 

Of broken faith and sordid negligence? 

Now she is mine, 'tis vow aface of vow. 

And I must make my choice. What then? 

Shall I suggest that we go back to France, 

Not to return until the main'aise foi 

Of things undone finds curative in sting 

Of these new rivalries the duke sets up? 

Would that be breaking of my vow, to save 

My marriage vow ? She would not go alone. 

Nor would I send her thus. Yet must she away 

From all this squalor of the pioneer life 

That will not be outswept, say what one may. 

I see her coming up the gangway yonder, 

Now that Hebert is gone. Dare I discuss 

What's in my mind, ere Guars has told me all? 

Enter Madame Champlain. 

Where have you left your romping charge, Helene? 



158 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Madame C. They're in the garden, under Marie's 
wing, 
Well warned of your parterres, till comes the snow 
To ward them with its coat. The Sieur has gone! 
What was the grief he seemed to carry round 
With him, expressed so full in eye and mien? 

Champlain. 'Twas not in grief he came; but news 
he had 
He thought were better mine. 

Madame C. But not for those, 

Most staid of diplomats, who, womanlike, 
A secret might divulge. 

Champlain. Nay nay, my queen 

And gentle confidante ! Since we were wed, 
What secret have I ever kept from you, 
But for your peace of mind, if even that? 

Madame C. Ha, ha, my loyalty, then neither you 
Nor yet your joint conspirator did speak 
Of me, when once my back was turned? Come, look 
Me in the face, you wicked, wicked man, 
And give respect to truth. 

Champlain. Nay not a word we spoke. 

Madame C. Nor thought of me? 

Champlain. Ah, that we had to do. 

As who could well resist, seeing you pass, 
Or as with me, thinking of love astep 
With hardship, pleading sore your better luck. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 159 

Madame C. Still harping on a string of minor key, 
Because of me ! My luck is yours, as yours 
Is mine, as is our love, thus sealed as e'er 
With kiss for kiss. What would my highness more? 
I pray you, therefore, condescend to tell 
Me why that good old man, le Sieur Hebert, 
Made burden of solemnity just now. 
When breaking in upon our breakfast hour. 

Champlain. So, ho, my Eve would make Edenic 
glee 
By quizzing Adam into telling all 
He knows beforehand of his coming fall. 
Another Company has been formed,^ Helene, 
And Sieur Hebert confirms the anxious news. 

Madame C. If that be all there is to tell, what need 
Have we to wring our hands? We knew as much 
At breakfast time, and did not go to jail. 
Yea, should this anxious fall of yours be worse 
Than Adam's first, cannot my Adam take 
His Eve away? Is there no other Eden 
Wherein we two may hide, loving to live. 
And living to love, with God not far away? 

Champlain. Ah, prophetess of hope and faith and 
love. 
Give me your hand, and I will read you more! 
All Adams have a conscience given them, 
And so have I. Care you to hear what's on't, 
As ballast to your winsome rhetoric? 
I have a vow beyond my marriage vow. 
Since e'er I saw Quebec, nature's chef d'oeuvre, 
I've vowed to colonize a commonwealth, 



i6o' CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

With it in midst. Alas, affairs have gone 
Amiss. You know the tale — a lingering tale — 
A record of the dismal hailing hope, 
With hope as far as ever from the loaning, 
Beyond our call, thus wooing at the gate. 
And now, my other conscience, truth's alarm, ■ 
What more is there to say? My secret's out. 
My vow to build a city, listless scorned. 
As are your tender needs, now stands aface 
My vow of love, and challenges this problem : 
How may our loves, a-seeing eye to eye, 
A verdict give for conscience' sake. 
With treason meditating further woe? 
Where is this other Eden we may seek 
A refuge 3'ours, from hardships so severe? 
What say you, dear Helene? 

Madame C. Samuel Champlain, 

You've made a vow, and you must keep it ; 
And, what is more, my place is by your side 
To help you keep it. Ah, I have read your heart ; 
And, since 'tis mine, the record of its throbs 
I'll place in sanctuary for secular worship, 
Should e'er you have your way. You would be rid 
Of me, most wicked sir, — for love of me, 
More wickedly you'd say! Come, let me see 
Your lips ! There is no lie on them ; and so 
I'll stay with you to kiss them. Nay, I'll stay 
With you wherever you may be. You have a vow, 
Most wicked sir, and so have I, and that's 
The end of it. This is my Eden here. 
Where is my heart ; and you may tell your heart 
And conscience so, and all the Sieur Heberts 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA i6i 

Of solemn mien this wicked world holds, 
That this is my resolve. 

[Exit Madame Champlain, 

Champlain. a heroine in sooth, as brave of will 
As hero in the bitter battlefield ! 



ACT III. SCENE 2. 

A room in the Habitation. Sieur Hebert, Beau- 
chasse, and Monsieur Guers azvaiting Cham- 
plain's arrival. Enter Champlain. 

Champlain. Merci, my friend Hebert! You found 
your men ? 
Ah, Monsieur Guers, I bid you welcome back. 
And you Beauchasse ! My friend Hebert has told 
Me of your coming. Pray be seated all ! 
You bring despatches from the other side ? 

M. Guers. I have them here. 

Champlain. They have been spoken of. 

Before they reach my hand. How happens this? 

M. Guers. No seal of them is broken. 

Champlain. True it is, 

But how did leakage spring of their contents, 
To force this gentleman, accredited 
A servant of our Merchants' Company, 
To cease his trading? Warrant he had from law 
Not yet repealed — the law that's in my hand. 



i62 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

M. GuERS. We thought to do him favour as a friend. 
Saving a friend expense. 

Beauchasse. Favour, forsooth, 

By force of arms, with vested rights ignored! 
What think you of a friendship,' when it points 
A gun at you to pray you do its bidding? 
Methinks, my Master Guers, you'd best revise 
The holdings of your friendship, if you'd grasp 
The purport of my protest. Monsieur Champlain, 
We have our rights, as subjects of the king, 
As you have yours. The law is in your hands, 
By right our governor. Ay, Master Guers, 
Is piracy a breach of law or not? 
Answer me that, my hawk, and prick forthwith 
Your thinking-pot a-boil, while I perforce 
Make protest in my Company's name,^ and call 
You to account for aping war in times of peace. 

M. Guers. Your protest may have lighter weight, 
when once 
These documents reveal the duke's desire 
To balance self and duty. You have had 
Your gains, Beauchasse, your bulging prices, too — 
Grinding the poor down to their stocking feet, 
And jeering at the outcry raised thereat. 
Ha, ha, protest indeed ! What have you done 
To meet demands that were not dividends? 
Ay, ay, Beauchasse, toujours Beauchasse ! Know you 
The doggerel of your hamlet fame? Perchance, 
Couillard, the honest farmer on the hill. 
And Abraham Martin of the fields beyond," 
May gleeful give your protest benefit 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 163 

Of clergy, making gift of it in time 
To men, as emblem of some fallen angel. 

Hebert, Guillaume Couillard is son-in-law of mine, 
A decent man who hateth heat of words. 

Champeain. Mcrci, Hebert; there is no need for 
heat. 
Messieurs, refrain ; the Procureur du Roi 
Rebukes you d-propos: the amende is due. 
When justice comes our way, we then 
Will know who's worthy praise or blame. Caen! 
Who is this De Caen,!*^ entitled Sieur, 
Of whom these letters speak so confident? 
You know him, Guers? 

M. Guers. Yea, and his nephew, too. 

Champeain. They are not really Huguenots? 

M. Guers. Whate'er their creed, 

Expressed or understood, under the flag 
Of France they trade, and that's enough for me : 
The duke commends them, does he not? 

Champeain. Ay, so I see, as speaks the king of me, 
With promises renewed of ships and arms. 
Under the flag of France they trade ! Mark that, 
Beauchasse! Have you not done the same, boasting 
Of some success ? Again give ear, Beauchasse ! 
Is trading confiscation, nothing less? 
H more or less what think you all of this? 
This same Caen, Beauchasse, would have me seize 
Your truck and give you nothing for't.^^ He says 



i64 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

You've failed of duty to this land and France, 

And so say I, — lamentably failed ; 

But " Serve him right" ne'er justified decree 

Of " I'm Sir Oracle," unless the king assents. 

Therefore 'tis mine to await the king's commands 

Directly sent. Nay, nay, I will not hang 

You yet, Beauchasse, mad though the poor folk are 

At your per cents. Let but the Company pay 

Its lawful tithes to church and state, and I 

Will stand them caution till the king forbids : 

With me he's final arbiter.^^ 

M. GuERS. And we? 

What of our trading rights and merchandise? 
Are we to have no bartering privilege 
To save our wares from waste? Is it not ours 
To buy and sell, as these declare in writ? 

Champlain. Nay, not so fast: the king controlleth 
all. 
As yet these De Caens are only known 
From hearsay's nod, not from the king's decree. 
'Tis patience fills the statesman's sail aport. 
Send me your masters, Guers, and then I'll treat 
As prudence prompts me, governor and man. 
Even as the king would wish. Nor is there more 
To say. 'Tis ours to obey the king and law. 
The contretemps of making known the news 
Contained in these despatches, Guers, has been 
A grief to me. But for that, all heat 
Had been avoided. Au revoir, Beauchasse, 
Nor quarrel by the way. Le Sieur Hebert 
And I will counsel take, and let vou know 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 165 

In time what lee ashore is safe retreat 

For all of us. I would not keep you longer. 

[Exit SiEUR Hebert, Beauchasse, and M. Guers. 

Champlain {alone). Another blend of bitters — 
rivalries 
Of creeds and trade, with greed and hate for spice! 
Ha, ha, Helene, the scent of it defiance brings 
Into my veins, with God and you for stay ! 
Yea, mix the ingredients : stir the bowl about : 
I'll drink it to the dregs. Nor will the dregs 
E'er touch your angel lips I prophesy, 
Though love rebel to miss them. 



ACT III. SCENE 3. 

An open space adjoining the Habitation, nozv knoivn as 
the Notre Dame Square or Market Place. 
Shouts from an approaching rabble. Enter the 
rabble, bearing ivith them an effigy of the clerk 
of the old Company. Great uproar and unre- 
strained indignation over the perfidies of the 
traders and their chief servant, Beauchasse. 

The Crowd. Beauchasse, toujours Beauchasse, ^'"^ 
Beauchasse a bas! 

All singing. 

Hang him first and burn him after, 

A bas Beauchasse! 
Give him naught but scorn and laughter, 

A bas Beauchasse! 



i66 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Our bones he's bled till there's no bleeding, 
Now we'll thrash him, no one heeding, 
Treating him with ample kneading, 
Tou jours Beauchasse, a has! 

On^ Rioter. Ho, fellows, there! The rascal, give 
him rope ! 
We'll make a fire with every chip at hand : 
We'll toast him, roast him, trussed in every limb 
From back to belly bursting rim to brim. 

The Crowd. Bcaucitassc, toujours Beauchasse, Beau- 
chasse a has! 

Second Rioter. He's had his day — a cruel day — the 
dog! 
Now toothless, blind, and sodden in his spite. 
No more his sous per sous will run the rig ; 
Nay, not an ounce of mercy to the prig. 
He's been an eyesore to the colony. 

The Crowd. Beauchasse, toujours Beauchasse, Beau- 
chasse a has! 

All singing again. 

Lift him high upon our shoulders, 

A has Beauchasse! 
Spectacle to all beholders, 

A has Beauchasse! 
Around and round him send a-swinging, 
Toss him arms and legs a-flinging. 
Overhead behold him winging, 

Toujours Beauchasse a has! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 167 

Third Rioter. Ho, there, mes enfants, let's proces- 
sion form ! 
See where the smoke arises from the shore ! 
Thither let's march, and finish him with fire, 
A-scorching out his sins on funeral pyre ! 

All singing again. 

Lay him low upon the shutter, 

A bas Beauchasse! 
Hist, let no one cheep or mutter, 

A bas Beauchasse! 
He's been a monster sowing trouble. 
Charging what he liked, and double ; 
Now he's but a bag of stubble, 

Toil jours Beauchasse a bas! 

[Bxit the rabble, continuing to shout on their 
march, Beauchasse, toujours Beauchasse, 
Beauchasse a bas! 

Enter Hebert, Courseron the Constable, and Guil- 

EAUME CoUIELARD. 

Hebert. This is strange heating on the king's do- 
main, 
With penury agog to have its rights : 
I had no thought these gamins had a soul. 

CouiLEARD. Beauchasse, you thought, perhaps, had 
none to spare. 
And hence could not supply demand, at twice 
The legal price. 

CouRSERON. We will be blamed for this. 



i68 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

HUBERT. Be blamed for what, and why? Who dare 
will say 
That we have ever made, as pioneers. 
Foment of enmity? Nay, rather, have we not allayed 
The outcry of the poor by giving what 
We could from out our stores, when this Beauchasse 
Had stayed his niggard hand from helping them? 

CouRSERON. Yet we had better not be seen to-night. 

C0UI1.1.ARD. We may not even soon be heard, I judge, 
Amid the vocal din now in pursuit. 
Listen ! A counter blast is in the wind. 
Though not in song: Beauchasse, I wager, is 
Not far away : let us withdraw a bit ! 

[Exit Hebert, Courseron, and CouitLARD, as a 
counter rabble enters, headed by Beauchasse, 
the clerk of the Company. 

Beauchasse. These devil's dead-heads have been 
here, I see. 
1 hear they have an effigy of me to burn. 
I'll burn them! If 'tis insult they're about. 
I know full well whence comes that phrase of theirs : 
Guillaume Couillard, I'll have it out with you — 

Enter Guillaume Couillard, alone. 

Couillard. Methinks I heard my name pronounced 
aloud : 
Was't you, Beauchasse, that called? How strange it is 
That I am near to answer you ! What is't 
You want of me? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 169 

Beauchasse. Are you of these? 

CouiLLARD. Of whom? 

Beauchasse. Ah, well you know of whom, Guil- 
laume Couillard : 
These canaille whoi think this De Caen 
Has found decree to give my men their conge, 
And now rejoice beforehand over them. 

Couillard. These canaille, in sooth ! 'Tis case of 
dog 
A-smelling dog, perchance ; and, if your sense 
Of smell be dulled, goodman, your other sense 
Of hearing might make out what 'tis you seek. 
Give heed! I'm told they have a pretty song 
To guide you where they are. Nay, do not go: 
I'll hold you while they sing, and let you have it out 
With me, as you have lately wished. 

Beauchasse. ^ Beware, 

Couillard ; 'tis not that I'm afraid of you, 
But— 

Couillard. Yea, I knew you'd stay, whene'er my 
hands 
Lay gently on your shoulders. Ay, the edge 
Is better ! Come, and we will hear it out. 
Ah, now they start, and we'll await le Hn. 

The Rioters heard singing in the distance. 

Sprinkle round his stinking ashes, 

A has Beauchasse! 
Where the tidal water splashes, 
' A has Beauchasse! 



I70 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

His masters are not ours for longer, 
And Quebec will be the stronger 
For the missing of the monger, 
Tou jours Beaiichassc a bas! 

The Crowd. Beauchassc, toujours Bcauchassc, Bcan- 
chasse a bas! 

CouiLLARD. There now, my friend, the pretty song 
is sung, 
And you may scent the dogs with my consent. 
But in their presence do not call them dogs 
Or they may lay their teeth in rage on you, 
Not gently as I laid my hands just now 
To let you have it out with me. 

Beauchasse {freeing himself). As I will yet, 
With you and your foul revellers yonder, 
Whose livers I'd have shred in small, to feed 
The eels they have to feed upon. Come on, 
Ye gawks, nor stand a-gaping there! Perchance, 
These ventral fins that flap disturbance near. 
To fan the fame of De Caen, may stand 
A further clipping at your frugal hands. 
Before the year is out or he gets here. 
Come, let us run the doggerel dogfish down, 
Ere they can, singing, flap their tails again, 

[Exit Beauchasse and his partisans. Re-enter 
Hebert and Courseron. 

Hebert. Guillaume, my man, you should be con- 
stable : 
'Twas quietly done, and better than a play 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 171 

To see the coward tremble to his boots. 
I do begin to hate the man. 

CouRSERON. Think you 

He will come back ? He ought to be arrested. 

Hebert, Then who, my brave, but you must after 
him, 
Before he reach the rabble with his braves? 
They'll kill him as they would a noisome cat 
A-mewing all for nought, and then we'll have 
The contract on our hands to hang them all. 

CouRSERON. Good heavens! Must I after them 
alone ? 

CouiLLARD. Nay, Courseron, this thing is not a joke, 
Although it was a joke for me to feel 
The poltroon quiver when they sang his death. 
Events are hastening in this direful hole 
From bad to worse. Death satirized, as thus 
It has this night, will kindle strife prolonged, 
Which, reaching English ears, may well excite 
Cupidity of race to heat of war. 
This Company — 

Hebert. Which one, beau-Hls? 

CouiLLARD. The one 

Which has Beauchasse, its old man of the sea, 
Around its neck. This Company has friends 
In France — the king himself for one, perhaps, 
And Pontgrave another. 

Hebert. Pontgrave, 

The governor's bosom friend? 



172 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

CouiLLARD. Yea, verily: 

I have been told that yestermorn he moored . 
Near by the Saguenay's mouth, with sixty men 
Or more on board his ship, to assert 
His Company's claims. 

Hebert. Against the De Caens? 

CouiLLARD. Nay, rather, these opposing, as if the 
world ' 

Were theirs, to train it Huguenot in trade. 

Hebert. How came you by the news? Does Cham- 
plain know ? 

CouiLLARD. An hour ago I chanced to meet Dumay 
A-hastening from the Habitation 
Back to his ship. He had just come from Tadousac. 
But for the din I would have told you sooner. 

HeberT. Sooner you should have whispered me, the 
din 
Or none. This is most serious news. I must 
Away at once to see the governor. 
Ha, what is that? 

CouiLLARD. Methinks the canaille 
Have caught their cat and drag him by the tail 
To where they hanged his double. Ha, hear that! 
He scratches back ; nay, they have him by the claws, 
For hear again their cry victorious. 

The Crowd. We have him now ; ha, ha, we have 
him now ! 
Bcauchasse, toujours Beauchassc. Beauchasse a has! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 173 

CouiLLARD. I swear me, bloodshed's in that cry for 
you, 
Beauchasse, unless we rescue make by force 
Of arms or strategy. A minute : I'll be back ! 

CouRSERON. Come, Sieur Hebert, let's hasten hence 
at once : 
Vite, vite, the Habitation is near. 

CouiLLARD {returning). Nay, Courseron, your place 
is here with me. 
My hand a-steadying you as late it did 
Beauchasse. You know how valiant he can be, 
And I must have one brave to help me meet him. 

Courseron. But Sieur Hebert they'll meet — 

CouiLLARD. Beau-pere Hebert will find his way 
alone. 
Stand, therefore, firm with me for seizure's sake. 
As any brave Lieutenant du Prevost, 
In times of opportunity. Stand fast, 
Here in the nearest shade, to await events. 
Ha, here they come ! 

The rabble re-enter, tzvo of the rioters dragging Beau- 
chasse, all dishevelled, to the centre of the stage, 
a fezv of them zvith torches in their hands, plucked 
from the funeral pyre of Beauchasse''s effigy. 
Beauchasse's partisans are heard approaching to 
his rescue. The din from all sides is deafening. 
A free light is imminent. 
12 



174 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The Rioters sing again. 

We have him now, the devil's chicken, 
A has Beauchasse! 

CouiivLARD. Ha, ha, new words they chance have 
found, 
Their doggerel piecing out to fit the tune. 

Fit for devil's broth to thicken, 

A has Beauchasse! 
Now you feel of death the shiver. 
Cent per cent must go for ever. 
As the goods we now deliver, 

Toujours Beauchasse a has! 

The Crowd. Beauchasse, toujours Beauchasse, Beau- 
chasse a has! 

Amid the confusion an attempt is made to rescue Beau- 
chasse. The riot rages for a time, when all at 
once Champlain, with Hebert and Couillard 
on either side of him, appears amid the turmoil, 
and just as suddenly a solemn silence reigns. 

Champeain. Ho, one of you release my friend Beau- 
chasse ! 

CouRSERON. Of course I will. 

Champlain. Nay, Couillard here 

Will see to it. 

CouRSERON. I knew we would be blamed. 

[Beauchasse is released. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 175 

Champlain. Ay, well you may. This is a sorry 
sight — 
A deviltry to be condemned, contemned, 
And punished rigorously. I overheard 
But thought you were but roistering in sport. 
You have been twisting rumours into facts. 
But rumours are not facts. Hie to your huts ! 
For me, I give assurance to investigate 
This outrage, building judgment on the facts 
And not on rumours. As concerning what 
The king may have decreed, we'll know in time. 
And in convention enter protest meek. 
As is becoming loyal subjects all. 
Meantime, to bed in peace ! The Habitation 
Is under arms, and know you once for all 
That I am governor here. I will with you, 
Hebert, and you, Couillard. Nay, Courseron, 
I leave you with these others. 



ACT III. SCENE 4. 

V 

The glebe and garden of the RecoUets, with their mon- 
astery in the rear, and on the banks of the stream 
which they had renamed the St. Charles. The 
members of the brotherhood and their servants 
are seen busy planting and pruning. Tzvo of 
them converse apart concerning the affairs of 
the colony. 

First Brother. This coming of the Huguenots to 
trade 
Is not in keeping with the hopes we had. 



176 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

That ne'er a heretic, with tares to sow, 
Would have a place in Canada. The king, 
'Tis said, has writ Champlain to keep his eye 
On all suspects, nor let them sojourn here. 

Second Brother. The king is orthodox enough, we 
know ; 
But what of that, when promises of arms 
Are all he sends^* to keep us orthodox? 
Champlain, I trow, is at the edge of things, 
As was the poor Beauchasse the other night. 

First B. That was a devil's dance, in very sooth — 
A touch-and-go to set us all aflame : 
And who can tell when we will have to serve 
A-soldiering, as did these henchermen of ours^^ 
A week ago? [ 

Second B. They say that Pontgrave 
Has men and arms galore to gain his end. 

First B. As have these De Caens, the Huguenots, 
To masculate their Company. 

Second B. And poor Champlain? 

First B. Ah, he! a rusty arquebuse or two: 
In loopholes rich, but passing poor in powder! 

Second B. 'Tis, then, a civil war we have on hand, 
Bringing its bloodshed to our very door. 
Perchance yet staining these our very hands, 
Should Champlain interfere. What could be worse? 

First B. There is a saving clause to all of that, ' 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 177 

Second B. A saving clause for us? 

First B. Yea, of a truth 

For us, the soldiers of the Cross. 

Second B. Explain, 

First B. The invaders are both Huguenots; and, 
lose 
Who may, the victory comes to us. 

Second B. Merci, 

And so they are : both surely Huguenots 
And heretics. I had not thought of that. 
These De Caens alone were in my mind. 
But Pontgrave ! Ah, he ! The good old man ! 
So brave and brusquely kind of manner, too ! 
Who ever heard that he had tares to sow? 
Don't you remember how 'twas he who brought 
Us out aship to join the Mission here? 
Nor yet forget how once he saved from death 
That sailor lad, and nursed him dry and warm 
All of a livelong day within his cabin? 
How calmly kind of him ! How genuine 
His charity ! Was it his heresy 
That taught him thus to act? If it be so, 
I'm heretic enough myself to wish 
That more such heresy were all around. 
Besides, a heretic or not, we know 
He's Champlain's friend — his trusty bosom friend ; 
And are the friends of Champlain ever seen 
To wean themselves from us on his advice, 
Howe'er we priests regret his marriage day? 
No, Pontgrave is Champlain's friend, and we, 



178 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Thougih churchmen leal, would weep to see 
The dear old mariner maimed in limb and purse, 
Other than now. Free of our gaberdine, 
We monks have ta'en our place in battlefield, 
And won a victory, too, by choosing sides ; 
And, if the governor demands — 

First B. 'Tis well you're not the governor yourself, 
To rush between the combatants and singe 
Your auspices. The king is orthodox, 
But sends Champlain no ready fighting gear; 
While you, as reft of fighting gear as he. 
And orthodox besides, would fain enlist, 
An instant soldier proud to save a heretic. 
The governor is made of cooler stuff than you ; 
And well it is, perchance, for us and him 
That he should neutral be, until the king 
Gives better heed to all of us. Ah, here 
Comes Father George, the wisest of our house, 
As Champlain thinks, when he goes out to hunt 
The counsel of the wise. He's not alone, 
And we must to our task and let him pass, 
Though sore I long to ask him his advice 
Concerning what we have been talking of. 
Hist, Brother Jean, look not this way just now: 
'Tis he and she in very sooth — Champlain, 
Accompanied by his Huguenot wife. 

Second B. She's Huguenot no longer. 

First B. That's as you 

May say ; but not as others think. 

Second B. Now, now. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 179 

I know in point what means the ungentle phrase: 
A name is dog enough to tabulate 
A virtue vice, and snarl at the lie. 

Madame Champlain has with her her two Indian pro- 
teges, Hope and Charity; zvhile accompanying 
Father George is to he seen the Huron boy after- 
wards knozvn as Louis de Sainte-Foye. Several 
Indian women stand near to watch the three chil- 
dren play under the motherly supervision of 
Madame Champlain, while the monks and their 
servants, scattered over the grounds, are busy 
with their gardening. 

ChampIvAin. Your garden rivals Sieur Hebert's and 
mine. 
Ah, Father George, 'twould be a pride to envy 
Were there more rivals in the field. But crops 
Come not from weather-chiding. Frowning fate 
Refuses quickening at the will of man. 
Yet mian oft challenges the frown to smile, 
By taking counsel with a friend. Elsewhere 
Are rivals twain afield, with me a third 
And arbiter ; and I would have you piece 
My judgment out, as would a friend a friend's. 
You've heard how Pontgrave and De Caen 
Are rivals face to face at Tadousac, 
With prestige at their backs to seize amain, 
For either, all there is of trading rights 
Within this vast domain. To me the king 
Has given the overseeing of the realm. 
With no resource coercive. Men nor arms 



i8o CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Are mine; and law, you know, has lost its edge 
When impotency holds the blade in hand. 
My problem, therefore, is how I may give 
It edge and force, wooing this rivalry 
To join with me in my fond game of progress. 
What says good Father George, my counsellor 
And friend, to such a plea? 

Father G. My heart, Champlain, 

Is with you in your toilings for us all. 
Your cause is ours. Our energies are yours. 
To implemeht the unity and zeal 
Of righteousness in church and state affairs ; 
And I, for one, am ready to enhance 
The authority of your rule by word and deed. 
If you but show the way. What would you more? 

Champlain. The fort is not yet built; and we should 
have 
Some show of force to stay these rivals' wrath, 
Until the king's decree is in my hands. 
The De Caens are armed, and we are not ; 
And that's the nutshell I must crack at once. 

Father. G. But Pontgrave is armed as well, and 
he— 

Is he not still your friend? 

Champlain. He was, and still 

May be, as was he, ay, and still must be 
The upholder of his Company's vested rights. 
He is the second kernel in the shell 
'Tis mine to crack, without the force to crack it. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA i8r 

Father G. Ah, now I see the issue in its breadth: 
PVom priest to pioneer, we all must stand by you; 
As one we must. What of this rabble stir? 
Beauchasse's anger, is it still aflame? 
Ah, you must see to that; then I'll bespeak 
My brother monks to give you their support; 
Nay, I will call them hither, now you're here : 
Brother Jean, a word with you! 

/) message having been hastily sent around the garden, 
the Recollets and their servants crowd near 
Champlain and Father George. Madame 
Champlain, holding Hope and Charity by the 
hand, takes up her position at her husband's side, 
the Indian women following her to touch her 
dress and steal a peep at themselves in the orna- 
mental looking-glass hanging at her side. 

Father G. Attend! 

The governor would have a word with you ! 
His theme is of ourselves, and that should make 
Us listen with our hands behind our ears. 

The Monks chant obedience with bowed heads. 

Give God the glory, we will hear him, 
Hear him as we all would say. 
Greet him servant of the king. 

Champlain. When common danger saps our peace 
of mind, 
Man unto man, we make our fellows strong. 
Ev'n men of peace must make the cause their own, 



i82 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Which seeks to rectify the affairs of state. 
Whate'er we have, as subjects of the king — • 
Ev'n a foothold barely — ^ours it is 
To guard. Here in Quebec our lot is cast : 
God and the king have given it to us, 
And v^e must hold it in the name of both, 
Until they tell us they will none of it. 

The Monks chant response. 

Give God the glory, turn we never 
From the task we've taken up. 
Servants of our God and king. 

ChampIvAin. Around these woods and far beyond, 
we know 
What realm there is for us throughout it all. 

[The Monks murmur applause. 

You've taken up your task, ordained of God, 
As I have mine, the appointed of the king. 
Our hands are on the plow, and who will say 
To us, Turn back ? 

The Monks chant response. 

Give God the glory, we will hold it, 
Hold it as a sacred trust, 
Servants of our God and king. 

Champi^ain. No one, you solemn say; 
Not Father George, your friend and mine, nor I, 
Nor yet these innocents of Huron blood, 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 183 

Forerunners of a best posterity 
Which they may Hve to see and bless! 

The Monks join in a full chant. 

'Tis ours to face the coming of a brighter day, 
To heighten courage from the tempered air, 
To claim our own from every fruitful shower. 
To glory in the greatness of the land, 
As God would have us in the king's good name ! 

Enter a messenger from the Habitation, with a letter in 
his hand for Cham plain. 

Champlain. Ah, this explains, my friends, what I 
have pled. 
The crisis is at hand. A sail is near. 
And I must haste away to find it foe 
Or friend, with all of you near-by to uphold 
Your governor in his time of need. I leave 
In Father George's hands this message here, 
Which will explain, to show you what's the ueed 
For haste and instant action. 

The Monks chant acceptance of the trust. 

Give God the glory, turn we will not 
From the task we've taken up. 
Servants of our God and king. 



i84 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 



ACT III. SCENE 5. 

A room in the Habitation. Champlain and Madame 
ChampIvAin in conversation, azvaiting the arrival 
of PoNTGRAVE, uuder the escort of Father 
George and Monsieur Guers. 

Madame C. Man magnifies the shadows of his day, 
As if his night were not enough for him. 

Champeain. And women are the sun's Ulleules^^ 
with rays 
Of hope for all such gropers m the dark. 

Madame C. Be that as sand-blind men applaud, I 
long, 
Outside this stir of hasty armament, 
To welcome good old Pontgrave once more, 
As friend meets friend, with sunshine void of shadow. 

Champlain. I join with you, Helene; I long like- 
wise. 
The mariner indeed is true as steel ; 
But what if, in pursuit, rage unrestrained, 
Sieur de Caen should seek a welcome too? 

Madame C. Name not the man a-paired with Pont- 
grave : 
I would not have him in my house. 

Champeain. Dislikes 

And likes repeat themselves in wives. 
And I, your husband, combat not myself, 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 185 

In what you say. But, dearest monitress, 

What would you say were he, your friend and mine, 

Our Pontgrave, to draw the sword on us? 

Madame C. What would I say? As well may I 
inquire 
What you would say, were I, your wife, to raise revolt 
Or run away. I pray you, monsieur mine, 
Incage your queries as a wise man does. 
Nor let them wire so close to raillery : 
The one may happen when the other does. 

Cham PLAIN. Were you to run away, madame ma 
chere, 
Then surely would I tandem it for you. 
With vow for vow in harness. 

Madame C. What ! and ditch 

Your vow — one or the other — should to France 
We run? Nay, rather let us chart these clouds 
Of yours — these present clouds : the wisdom gained 
May help us navigate the after-dark. 
While reining in a runaway of vows. 
But what has this with Pontgrave, my dear? 
He comes in peace or war — in peace and love 
I say, as is his wont. But De Caen ! 
If I mistake not, he has ruder aims. 

ChampIvAin. Your repartee, my wisdom's better- 
half, 
I hold in gentle part, and humbly take 
My punishment a-sunshined by your smile. 
Some interim settlement is in the wind. 



i86 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

As claimed these supercargoes^'^ here last weel*. 
The duke is on the halt again, unhinged 
By protest from the Company. Alas, how oft 
The faithless crave, and win in time, the crown 
Of martyrdom — 

Madame; C. As we may have to do, 
Should these stock steeds of ours, our vows, involve 
Capsize and sorrow in the after-dark. 

Champlain. That after-dark, where'er it be for us, 
Has had its twilight prelude here for you. 

Madame C. Nay, nay, no more of that. Have you 
not said 
I am the sun's Ulleule, with golden darts 
Inside my quiver ? Rays of hope ! Are they 
All spent? Then I must hie me to the hill 
To gather more, when Pontgrave arrives. 
Ah, here comes Monsieur Guers! Retires-moif 

Champlain. Nay, stay, Helene, and hear what news 
he brings. 

Bnter M. GuERS. 

Has Pontgrave arrived? 

Guers. He has, monsieur. 

Pardonne, madame! He recommends himself 
To you — to both of you — and presently 
He will be here with Father George.^^ 

Champlain. His ship— 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 187 

GuERS. He has no ship — only a schooner's load 
Of merchandise. 

[Madame; C. exchanges looks with her husband 
quizsingly. 

Champlain. You say he comes at once? 

GuERS. Ay, with Father George ; 

And now I'll haste to tell him he may come. 

[Exit M. GuERS. 

Madame Champlain approaches Champlain, and, 
placing her hand playfully on his arm, recites 
these impromptu lines: 

A prophet and a prophetess 

Once made a guess, 
A counter guess : 
The prophet ominous did speak, 

The prophetess replied ; 
And now the sequel proves the freak 

That neither of them lied. 

Champlain. Ha, ha, Helene, your muse is won- 
drous kind ; 
I wonder if my torpid top could find 
A right retort that sags not in its wind. 

A prophetess both good and true, 
A prophet knew, 
A lover knew : 



i88 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The prophetess looked in his face, 
The prophet kissed her eyes ; 

And still the marvel grows apace 
How love can sacrifice. 

Madame; C. Within that after-dark of yours, such 
darts 
As these may scintillate a spark or two 
Across the ditch, to keep these steeds of ours 
From foundering on their way. But friendship comes 
To brighten up our present. 

Enter Father George and Pontgrave. Friendly greet- 
ings interchanged. 

Pontgrave. All is well : 

To God the praise ! But why this war array 
Of stalking sentinel and port-hole frown? 
Was it a foe you thought to see in me? 
Nay, nay, I'm still a trader's hack. My ship 
Lies peaceful armed at Tadousac, 
Pending emergency. I'm only here 
To buy and sell, not to defy, with show 
Of arms, my governor and friend. 

Cham PLAIN, 'Tis well. 

As you have said ; but De Caen is fully armed. 

Pontgrave, Ay, armed to truculence.^^ 

Champeain. And you are here ? 

Pontgrave. The agent of my Company, compelled 
To trade, till urgent fighting comes my way ! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 189 

If De Caen has warrant 'gainst my ship 
And you, my higher arbiter, demand 
Its fair surrender, who am I, to spite 
The law? But should you say him nay, 
Then all the deviltry at fraud's command, 
Or sneak-thief's engineering, will not stay 
My temper to resist and hold mine own. 

Champlain. Your Company's rights are forfeit to 
the king.2o 
Their charter's but a worthless piece of paper ; 
And I, perforce, have seized their property 
In trust, until they implement their faith 
To this poor colony. 

PoNTGRAVE. Justice is just. 

And I am but its call-boy. Leniency 
Is more or less its running handmaid, too. 
Should rivalry be leering round the corner, 
To steal more than its share. Hold what you have 
A guarantee, that henceforth trading greed 
Will not play false the pioneer's zeal. 
Impartial you have been, impartial be. 
These De Caens, our rivals, who are they? 
You know the " has been," but the " will be " waits 
The test of time. And, did I dare to woo 
The gift of prophecy, I might detect the bad 
Developing a worse, ay, eten its worst, 
In penury again begot unblushingly 
Of tyrannous neglect and heartlessness. 
These gentry are not built benevolent, 
No more than gamblers are. 
13 



I90 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Madame C. 'Tis not for me 

To interrupt, but, Frangois Pontgrave, 
Prophet of evil, yea, my friend and ours, 
Fain would I exorcise the croak of crow 
Out of your prophecy with housewife cheer. 
Let me retire to seek your better angel. 
And Father George, these messieurs keep apart 
Till I return. 

[Bxit Madame Cham plain. 

Father G. The king must send decree. 

Champlain. And we must leave at once for 
Tadousac. 

Pontgrave. Sieur de Caen would have you there? 

Champlain. He would, 

And yet he wouldn't : he'd rather have your ship. 

Pontgrave. Then let him burn his fingers taking it. 
But that the cunning fox will hardly chance, 
Without a guaranty secured from you. He knows 
He's not supreme out here, and that is gall 
To beggars cock-a-ride as he. 

Champlain. Your papers, 

Are these en regie f 

Pontgrave. Yea, neat and formal cut 

As lawyer's gown. Here they are complete. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 191 

[Madame Champlain returns zvith refreshments. 
Father George and Pontgrave busy them- 
selves as her attendants, zvhile Champlain 
reads the clearance papers of Pontgrave's 
vessel. 

Champlain. Where is the Company's permit? 

PoNTGRAVE. , Here it is, 

Writ crooked in my hvimble personnel, 
As witnessed by madame and Father George. 

Champlain. I mean the permit De Caen must grant, 
In name of this new chartered Company, 
To every ship now sailing here from France? 

Pontgrave. What done with it? 

Nought have I done with it. I never had it. 
The De Caens are not my masters here, 
Since you are governor. 

Champlain. This is, alas. 

No laughing matter. 

Pontgrave. Why, the law's demands 

I saw to, and the papers all are there. 
What would you more? Am I to lose my ship 
P'or lack of rival's etiquette? 

Champlain. You may. 

Pontgrave. With you for arbiter-in-chief and friend ? 
If that be justice, fight we must for other! 



192 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Champlain. Fighting the law even for the best of 
friends, 
Is no safe game for one to consort with, 
P'ar less a governor, in straits like mine. 
I have a wife, and here is Father George ; 
Surely amongst us, friend to friend assured, 
We may discern what 'tis the best to do. 
Come, Father George, what of advice is yours 
To give, to save this worthy mariner? 

Father G. The hostess first and then the guest! 
Madame, 
What say you? Shall we to Tadousac, 
To void the contretemps? 

Madame C. Woman's place 

Is in her home. 'Tis there is heard her voice 
To best efifect, a second in command. 
There, with her husband and her inner heart, 
She may commune on what concerns her friends — 
Even con at times the links of sympathy 
Within the public weal. My outer task 
Has been to join with Father George's kind, 
In making some impress upon the souls 
So long asleep in ignorance from lack 
Oi gospel light. Alas, the task ! To me 
It seems at times but labour lost — the seed 
A-rotting ere it fructifies, or worse, 
A-withering just before it ripens full. 
And, as with us poor gospel pioneers. 
So 'tis with you, the men of other brawn : 
You have your toilings still to wonder at, 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 193 

With further toils in hand. Year in, year out, 

You overtop the hedges round your pride, 

To see what may be done, without the power 

To do it. You long to make things plumb, 

And mourn to find them still aslant, 

As if the plummet were no implement 

Of nature's make. What is this gospel men 

Would preach and preach, despite the scorn? 

What is this climbing 'yond ambition's reach, 

Nathless the loss of strength and peace of mind? 

'Tis mine to hate but what my husband hates — 

If e'er I suffer him to hate for long — 

When rivalries arise beyond the realm 

Of housewife ken. My function is to love, 

And, void of lust, all love is paired with justice. 

Therefore were I to accept this challenge yours, — 

Yours, Father George, and yours the twain of you — 

The simple verdict I would give in trust 

To all of you is this : Do right and go ! 

Father G. Merci, madanie, and so say I with you. . 
In such a case as this justice must hold: 
To do the right is but to stay the hand 
Of him who would injustice do. 

PoNTGRAVE. Madame, 

I've known for long that this old heart of mine 
Is true to me, whene'er I think of you. 
The gospel of your presence is a toast 
We three will drink in silence. Gentlemen, 
Your glasses I would touch. Madame Champlain! 
God bless her in her now and evermore! 



194 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 



• ACT III. SCENE 6. 

On board De Cain's vessel at Tadoiisac. Sieur De 
Caen and his nephew, Emery de Caen, awaiting 
the arrival of Champlain and Father George 
to discuss the disposal of Pontgrave's ship. 

SiEUR DE C. This would-be monarch needs his pin- 
ions cropped : 
His mien is more majestic than his sway: 
An Eastern potentate could loom no larger. 

Emery de C. I hope you spoke him fair. 

SiEUR DE C. Beyond deserving: 

I told him that my purpose was to seize. 

Emery deC. And he? 

SiEUR DE C. He donned his prestige on his sleeve, 
His pride upon his hat, and proudly asked 
To see my papers. 

Emery de C. Which aroused your wrath 
And made you show your hand? 

SiEUR DE C. What do you mean? 

I did not show my hand. I gave him nay — 
Or rather bade him sue the duke to give 
Him warranty to flirt with secrecies :^^ 
Nay, more, I pricked his dignity so far 
As gain his promise to attend me here. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 195 

Emery de; C. What easing to a poor man's spleen 
was that — - 
Wooing to win his high-strung mightiness 
To board our humble ship ! Twice has he turned 
The edge of our complacency,-- only 
To rag his wounded dignity the more, 
As things turn out. Is that the lap of oar? 
Yea, here he comes in schooner's wherry, 
Backgrounded by his rough-robed Recollet! 
The ladder lower, lads ! Give way ! Give way ! 

Enter Champlain and Father George. Greetings 
coldly interchanged. 

Champlain. I would not have you think, • Sieur de 
Caen, 
That I am here to pander for injustice. 
Two sides there are to every plea, they say, 
But mine has only one. 

Sieur de C. My plea is likewise plain, 

Whatever yours may be. The ship is confiscate, 
And I would have it, by the right of law, 
To ferret out these thieves of Rochellois, 
Who make a warren of our peltry ports 
And nibble up our gains. 

Champlain. I hold in lien 

The chattels of the guild you'd supersede. 
And, come what may, you have redress assured. 

Sieur de C. But not the ship, equipped to make pur- 
suit 
Of those the law should heel in our behalf. 



196 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Champi^ain. Have you no runners of your own out- 
rig 
To put in chase? 

SiEUR DE C. We have; but what of that? 
This ship we want will give eclat to those we have. 

Champlain. Then take the craft, and arm it cap-a- 
pie. 
And I will take command of it.^ 

SiEUR DE C. Nay, nay, 

Brave Governor! Sieur de Caen comes not 
To Canada to throw away his gold 
On high exploits : he comes to gather more. 
My rights I know : your claims I would respect 
As words our written charter. Hear me, then! 
This ship is ours by breach of law ; and so 
'Tis mine to seize it. There the matter ends. 

ChampIvAin. Ay, ends, perchance, for you, but not 
with me ! 
The king's decree is paramount. 

Sieur de C. The viceroy's voice 

Is clamant till the king's decree is heard. 
And if 'tis treason you would hunt, look back 
Upon the record of our rivals compromised. 
Whose interests you uphold. 

ChampIwAin. I uphold the right. 

And it alone. 

Sieur de C. This Pontgrave 's vour friend? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 197 

CHAMPI.AIN. And would be yours did you but know 
him well. 

SiEUR DE C. He stands a partizan alarmed. 

Cham PLAIN. You know 

Him poorly when you say't. No man has more 
Of honour in his gift or bravery. 
Loyal to law and justice, bowing to both, 
He holds his ship to place at your disposal, 
Whene'er your claim's unchallenged. So with me, 
I am not here to plead for more than justice. 

SiEUR DE C. Then justice you will have; ay, more of 
it 
Than these our predecessors gave. Unbend, 
To cauterize your wormed authority. 
You have nor men nor arms. Your colony 
Is at starvation's edge, with worse to come. 
Faction is rife, with order in suspense. 
Your fort is still to build ; and, what is more. 
There comes report that Ventadour will take 
His uncle's place, should this unrest hold out, 
And flood the land with Loyola's resolute scouts. 
What, then, will hap to you — with companies twain 
Making of trade a war — with strife of sect 
A-rage from port to port, straining its spite — 
With parasite and partizan nursing despair — 
With Huguenot and Jesuit inflamed^* 
To make a folly of each other's faith? 
You read my prophecy? 

Champlain. I hear your words 

Assaying what may come. But to our text ! 



198 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

SiEUR DE C. Then listen to both text and homily! 
This vessel I will have. 

Champi^ain. Whate'er the law? 

SiEUR de; C. Meantime la loi c'est moi. And you the 
law 
Will be, if but the twain of us should turn 
Aside my prophecy. 'Tis yours to have 
More than the semblancy of rule. Supply 
Of arms and men should garrison your fort: 
The place should be provisioned ; and, to crown 
Such governance by force, a fit abode 
For you and yours, should substitute at once 
The ruin you call a Habitation. 

Champi^ain, Much brighter than your prophecy is 
this, 
Your promise of amend. Would that we knew 
'Twould be fulfilled. 

SiKUR de; C. To doubt is poor escape. 
You're thinking of the monopolists who left 
You in the lurch. My word is not as theirs. 

ChampIvAIN. Tempting is worse than doubting, and 
I fear 
For others, not myself, as I withstand 
The tempter. Prophecy may be a threat 
To weakhngs : not to me, howe'er I've read 
Your horoscope my own before you did. 
I would be friends with you, but not on terms 
As these. The ship is yours by strength of threat. 
Seize it you may, beyond my will. But still 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 199 

The right of justice holds. Nay, do not think, 
Sieur de Caen, that Champlain is a child. 
You're here for gold, you say — gold for the sake 
Of gold, not high exploits. But I am here 
For these same high exploits : Yea, I am here 
To found a commonwealth : not to be bought 
Or sold for gold, or frightened from the path 
Of honest dealing to the contract held. 
Say, Father George, what's in your mind to say, 
And let us hence with due respect. 

Father George;. In truth, 

My pleading is no other than your own. 
Sieur de Caen, were you to know, as we. 
Our Pontgrave, his ship you would not keep, 
As neither may you when you think of it. 

[Exit Champlain and Father George. 

Sieur de C. Methought the starch went somewhat 
out of him. 
When once he heard me promise on the fly. 

Emery de C. Such promises are less expensive far. 
When kept within the jar. 

Sieur de C. Punning is worse than stale preserves, 
should one 
Be out of butter. 

Emery de C. Hence I'll say no more 
To save the jar, the promise only broken. 

Sieur de C. I'll break le monsieur yet. 



200 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Emery de; C. Bend him, you mean 

He is no promise, as I take it, on the fly 
That's Hkely to be broken. 



ACT III. SCENE 7. 

The garden attached to the Habitation. Madame 
Champlain discovered in the moonlight all alone. 

Madame C. Oh for a glimpse of what was once my 
home! 
Forgotten? Nay, not yet, nor ever! See, 
The moon is constant in her friendship still. 
And speaks to me of France as chance it will 
Of this, our poor old chateau, when I'm called 
To think of it elsewhere. Ah, what is home? 
A yonder, here, or only in the heart? 
These nomads have a throbbing there, which reads 
Them lesson at the gate ajar^^ for plea 
Of gospel messenger. And, when my prayer 
Receives a welcome from a mother's tears, 
I know that home is there. God and friendship! 
What other is there home may build upon? 
Were mother earth, this moon is handmaid to, 
A heart a-throb^ — a mother's heart in very truth — 
With love for God and God as love supreme. 
Then home would be wherever we should be, 
And constancy its altar everywhere. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 201 

Enter Champlain. 

Cham PLAIN. Ah, dear Helene, good news for you at 
last! 
Tidings of import to the whole of us ! 
Come, then, my prophetess, and give again 
Some token of your wondrous guessing gifts ! 

Madame C. You would to France? 

Champlain. I would? Who told you so? 

Madame C. The moon and I have just been knitting 
brows, 
To make the marvel out, before you came. 

Champlain. What, mooning of home to steal a 
march on me? 
I should be jealous of the rivalry. 
Since I was keen to break the news the first. 
I wonder not that you should long for home, 
Your home in France, since what is here for us 
Is reft of comfort save what love has left. 

Madame C. But home is love and love is home ; at 
least 
So says the moon, if I made out aright 
Her argument. 

Champlain. Spoke she of what your woes 
Have been, and how your love has sanctified 
The scene of them? 

Madame C. The moon no flatterer is ; 



202 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Her charms shed soothing, as you see, 
Bidding me patient wait your further tale. 

CHAMPI.AIN. Then Hsten ; though you know the tale 
by heart. 
This colony is but a crisis-bag. 
Trade throating trade, and creed a-cursing creed, 
With sordid passions slinking everywhere. 
Beauchasse's cent-per-cent is out of date : 
The poor will soon be mulcted for air to breathe, 
With souls full steeped in idleness and guilt. 
These De Caens, embroiling and embroiled. 
But make a play of compromise and craft, 
As if all living were a gambling den, 
The poor their counters, trading tricks 
Their euchre code, the royal credit bluff. 
There seems no ending to the deviltry, 
Though Father George has been to France, to lay 
Quebec's complaint before both duke and king. 
Some show of progress there has been, but still 
The game goes on. Memorials we send,^^ 
And Pontgrave may plead; but what of that? 
The gamesters ever trump our honest cards, 
And there's the end of it, until I make 
Appeal in person, as our friends agree. 

Madame C. And must you leave, with all your work 
on hand. 
The fort and Habitation and all? 

Champlain. Hebert and Emery de Caen will see 
To these. 

Madame C. And I? 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 203 

Champlain. Ah, you, ma chere! What says 

Your friend and confidante, the moon? 

Madame C. Oh, she ! 

The moon but talked of home. 

Champlain. And you would wish to see it. Ah, 
Helene, 
The moonlight's in your eye, and I can see 
The tell-tale joy you think you would suppress. 
My wife, my all, my vow's delight and trust, 
There's ecstasy for both of us in this. 
My soul's decree to sail for France again — 
Relief of mind for me, release for you 
From hardship's luck — the ecstasy of love 
And trust and joy, and all that's in the name 
Of home. And here in presence of the moon — 
The dear old moon, your friend and mine — we pledge 
Our troth again. What a world it is. 
Created beautiful as any gem 
Of varying radiancy! Is man himself 
The Satan who would mar the Creator's skill, 
By peering through the shifting lens of self? 
What brought us here, if not to find our Eden? 
And now that man, as Satan, sets the lens 
Of self the standard, battling for the false. 
What is there but for Eve to plan escape? 

Madame C. But not without her Adam? 

CHAMPI.AIN. Ask the moon, 

Good Mistress Eve ; then bidding her good-night, 
Ivet us within to plan our coming flight. 



204 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 



ACT III. SCENE 8. 

The woods in the neighbourhood of Sieur Hubert's 
house OH or near the site nozv occupied by the 
buildings of Laval University. Enter Hebert 
ivith his musket in his hand and his axe on his 
shoulder^ on his zvay to the felling of one or two 
trees on the outskirts of his farm. 

Hebert. Toil breedeth heart's ease, and the heart's 
ease hope ; 
But when our troubles reach the boiling point, 
The toil becomes perforce a trouble more. 
These stalwarts, one by one, have given way, 
And seems it now as if my axe's edge 
Were but an instinct in me,-'^ set incensed 
Against all forest growth that mars 
The coming of my harvests. 

Chip it, snip it, bite between. 
Underneath the branches ; 
Time each blow to cut it clean, 
Where the timber blanches ; 
Sheer the rings with swinging mettle. 
Till we see the great limbs settle. 

[Hebert sustains the rhythm with his axe on a 
tree near by. 

Such is life, 
And life a-wearies of this world at times. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 205 

Louis Hebert, what is't that makes you sad? 

Champlain has gone. I've seen the ship set sail 

Which bore him and his wife away to France ; 

And, seemed it, as I strained my eye to watch 

It down the harbour, I had lost my Anne again, 

With nought but gloom to feed my soul upon. 

My Anne is dead, an angel glorified : 

This other angel lives, but turns her back. 

As if the light of heaven she sheds around 

Were stolen from us, not gone out. As yet 

Champlain has not come back. Why should he run 

Away from what is sunshine, to the night 

Of our endeavours in this monde petit 

That festers round the Cul-de-Sac, and makes 

A cesspool of our colony ? All is 

Much as he left it — lumber, stone and lime, 

Lying a-weathered in a rubbish heap, nor fort 

Nor house begim. This De Caen has played 

Him false, as else he has with others, worse 

To worst a-coming. Crime now grows apace. 

The rage of hunger cries alarm within. 

While scent of tribal onset from without 

Makes terror flap its wings. 

Enter GuilIvAume Couillard iiniioticed. 

Chip it, snip it, bite between, 
Underneath the branches — 

Couillard. So, ho, beau-pere, you're at it, nip-and- 
chip. 
Like young one just awake. I've come with news; 
Think you, who has arrived ? 
14 



2o6 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

He;berT. Has Champlain come? 

CouiivLARD. Nay, not so good as that. 

HUBERT. Ay, not so good. 

Nor better, save the coming of his wife. 
Who is it has arrived? 

CouiivLARD. The Jesuits. 

Hebert. Ho, ho, at last! 

Chip it, snip it, bite between, 
Underneath the branches ; 
Peel your eyesight, watching keen 
Where this new edge launches ; 
Nip and snip, cut deep, unsettle. 
Now the land will find its mettle. 

[CouiLLARD, amused, times the rhythm zvith his 
hands, and Hebert zvith his axe on the tree. 

CouiLLARD. You take the tidings strange. 

Hebert. And you? 

CouiLLARD. Nay, nothing now disturbs me much, 

From thunderbolts to treason. 

Hebert. But these priests ? 

CouiLLARD. Their welcome has been wintry .^^ More 
than that, 
Like Him whose name they bear, they have not where 
To lay their heads. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 207 

Hebert. Has De Caen refused 

Them house-room at the Habitation f 

CouiLLARD. He has. 

Hebert. The miscreant! Have they left their ship? 

CouiLEARD. Not for another day. 

Hebert. There then is chance 

To void betrayal of philanthropy. 
The Recollets will take them in ; if not, 
Up on the hill with us we'll find them quarters, 
Perchance not fitting, yet the best we have. 
What other news from France with them for us? 

CouiLLARD. The nephew takes his uncle's viceroy- 
ship; 
Louis Sainte-Foye has been baptized a prince ;^^ 
And rivalries in trade have shaken hands. 

Hebert. What! Ventadour, a second duke, is head. 
With union of the rival companies? 

CouiLLARD. Yea, that is how 'tis said. 

Hebert. Then that is why 

The Jesuits are here. This Ventadour 
Was once a priest,^^ I've heard, and thus would make 
Amend to Mother Church for his default. 
A bishop once, a bishop ever after. 
Does not prevent a priest from being duke. 
But what is Champlain in this late revise? 

CouiLLARD. Lieutenant dn Viceroi, as formerly, 
With prestige better poised. 



2o8 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Hebert. And De Caen? 

CouiLLARD. The companies are one,^^ and he, no 
doubt, 
Has won Beauchasse's shoes, with sole beneath, 
But with no soul above, and best endowed 
With all his other gifts, for grinding fine 
His profits from the poor. I would not wonder 
Were we to hear the doggerel of his death 
Entoned some night, as was Beauchasse's once. 

Hebert. I see you hate the man. 

CouiELARD. I hate the breed; 

And not the man himself, as God forbids. 
He stole the ship of Pontgrave,^^ and then, 
To make a fuller gain and hide his guilt. 
He made demand for peltries in exchange, 
Doubling his threats against the governor 
All impotent to curb his cruel greed. 
God save us from the trading breed who claim 
That all is fair in business. 

Hebert. Pontgrave 

You mention. What of him, the worthy man ? 
When may we see him at Quebec again? 

CouiLLARD. They say he's getting old and bent with 
gout, 
And may remain in France, unless, in time. 
The De Caens should find his virtues out, 
And deem them worth to them a money gain. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 209 

Hebert. And she — the chatelaine — the fair Helene — 
What have you heard of her? Will she return, 
To bring our sunshine back ? • 'Tis she I think 
And think of most, as still I think of Anne. 
Guillaume Couillard, my son, what's said of her? 

CouiLLARD. Ah, Sieur Hebert, there lies our grief 
again. 
Something has happened f^ what, I do not know. 
The fathers do not speak of her. Not dead ! Oh, no. 
The others say. But this I've been assured of: 
We ne'er will see her here again, whate'er 
May hap her husband. 

Hebert. Never see her here again? 

What, never, never, never, never again? 
Then I must to my work, and think of Anne, 
If these our troubles I would keep this side 
The boiling point. Good day, Guillaume Couillard ; 
This tree I must bring down, and then we'll go 
To house the Jesuits. 

Chip it, snip it, bite between, 
Underneath the branches ; 
'Tis fate's long arm that striketh keen, 
Fate's own blow that blanches ; 
Though our troubles do not settle, 
Love will never lose its mettle. 



2IO CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 



ACT III. SCENE 9. 

A room in the Fort St. Louis, which stood at the north- 
eastern end of tvhat is now called the Dufferin 
Terrace. Champlain seated at a table. The 
starving population of Quebec heard murmuring 
in the adjacent chambers and courtyard, expos- 
tulating with PoNTGRAVE and Couillard, ivho 
have charge of the distribution of whatever rations 
of pulse and roots still remain in store. 

Champlain. They must not say we die of cowardice, 
Even though the people cry for bread, or these 
Our ramparts, Hke the face of death, betray 
The lapse of function. Sieur Hebert, alas. 
Is dead. And now Quebec, his hope and mine, 
I fear is struck with death's last agony. 

[Dismal sounds from zvithout. 

A Voice. More, more, the smallest measure more! 
We die 
For lack of more. 

Se;cond Voice. More for our children: think 
Of them and all of us : we starve ! 

Champlain. Are these 

The groans of hopes not overcome? O God, 
What hope is there, waiting, perchance, a sign 
From me that all is lost to muster cry 
Of death's despair! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 211 

[The dismal sounds repeated. A dirge follows. 

God help us in our dire distress, 
As these our burdens round us press. 
Famine and death ! Woe, woe to us ! 
It cannot be He'll leave us thus ! 

Champlain. Oh, give me strength to bear 

The stress of this ! 'Twere worse were I to join it. 
Guillaume Couillard and Pontgrave are there: 
I overhear their tones. 

[The murmurs grow less intense, and finally die 
away in the distance. 

When I returned. 
Two years agone, there was a glimmer in the air — 
Though I had left my light of life behind — 
And from that glimmer I did faithful grope 
Along the path of duty. Work relieved the gloom — 
Relief sustained that my Helene had 'scaped 
The dismal sharing of these final throes. 
This fort was built, to be rebuilt,^* when burst 
The elements to test its strength. 
The Habitation rebuked neglect, 
Demanding its renewal, as Helene 
Had prophesied it would. The Recollets 
And Jesuits made progress in their homes ; 
While yonder, near tMe shades of Cap Tourmente,^^ 
My meadow-lands gave recompense to toil, 
Thus eking out my garden growths and those 
Of Sieur Hebert. The war with nature brings 



212 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

The pioneer pains, and we had ours in full — 

Sore pains, but no regret. The elements 

Of near success peered out at times to prove, 

Amid our toils, the harvests of a land 

That yet may feed its millions. Yea, there was 

Reward for us in hoping for the best. 

But, when revenge made out its slimy trail, 

To join its envyings with our natural foes — 

Turning religious zeal and trading lust 

A providence against us — hope grew weak, 

As idleness stood by, to let the flood 

Of envy overflow defeat for us : 

Redress was made to slide aslant to run 

Champlain ashore. The hazard stay, you say ! 

What! stay't, with famine harking at our heels, 

Impending doom o'erhead, retreat cut off, 

Despair enticing downwardness? As well 

Say stay to law decreed inevitable. 

Season has followed season with no ship 

In sight to frustrate famine. De Caen 

Knew well — and knows, no doubt, without chagrin — 

That we have long been languishing for lack 

Of food. De Roquemont knew it,^^ when he fled 

Before the English fleet. The world knows it. 

And now Quebec may haggard nurse despair. 

Staring at desolation, want, and death, — 

Hoping against the hope that French relief 

Ma;'' chance escape the ships of David Kirke. 

Enter Pontgrave and Couili.ard. 

PoNTGRAVE. Couillard and I have seen the last of 
them 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 213 

Off to the woods to dig for roots. The air 
Will do them good, even should their gathered stock 
Be bitter stomach-stay. But for Couillard, 
They would have made a meal — one final gulp — 
Of all we had. 

ChampIvAIN. But for that boat — ^'^ 

PoNTGRAVE. Ay, ay. 

That boat ! Ne'er speak of it, or you will make 
Me mad, to think I dared dispute your wisdom. 
But for that boat, which brave Boulle commands, 
There would not be a speck of pulse on hand 
To fleck in famine's eye. 

Couillard. Arm as we may. 

Why should we fail of refuge in the woods. 
While seeking succour in the Indian camps ; 
Leaving the crumbs we have, to keep alive 
The women and the children — speeding it. 
As chance will let us, hither home again? 

Champlain. Well said, Couillard, there's action in 
your words. 
But little else. The tribes are scant of fare 
As we. The Hurons have no food to sell. 
A sack or two the brave Brebeuf secured,^^ 
But what was that to fill so many mouths, 
Unless a miracle had intervened, 
To make it multiply. 



214 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Enter an Indian with perturbation in his manner. 

The; Indian : I have seen it ! I have seen it ! The 
ship, the ship ! One, two, three, no more perhaps. 

ChampIvAin. What have you seen, 

And where and when? 

The; Indian. The ship, the ship, out yonder, there, 
when I was fish for eel, near the fathers' place. 

Champi.ain. I wonder if it be the English fleet. 
Run, Pontgrave — nay, rather you, Couillard — 
Run out and see, or, better, let. us all! 
Ho ho, here's more of it ! 

Others rush in, bringing with them the tzvo little girls, 
Hope and Charity, zvho run in affright to Cham- 
plain and are taken up in his arms as if for 
fatherly protection. 

Charity. The ships, the ships. 

The cruel, wicked ships,^^ drive them away ! 

Hope. They cannot harm us now. 

The company of root collectors, men. women and chil- 
dren gradually crozvd into the chamber, -filling 
the air zvith all manner of dismal, despairing 
cries. Amid the turmoil, Cham plain sets his 
tzvo charges on the table zvith his arm around 
them, and asserts himself as one fearless of the 
situation. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 215 

Champi^ain. I would have silence here. 

[Champlain's servant approaches the table with 
four bags of roots, zvhich he places near 
Hope; and Charity, as these little ones keep 
a standing attitude in presence of all, near the 
governor. 

Here is my garrison, and there, I ween, 
Is provender to last our present needs. 
Mark you how much of fear these tots reveal. 
With this my arm around them. Me they know 
Protector to be trusted. Ah, my friends, 
Nor other may you fear while I am near, 
To stand by you, to fight for you, to save 
You from the enemy, nay, come what may. 
To stay the pangs from hunger's gripe, 
Whene'er war's terms we make. 

Enter the Recollet and Jesuit Fathers. 

Why should we fail 
Of faith in what may come, while courage lasts. 
See, hither come the servants of the Cross, 
To' give us confidence, soul unto soul. 
In all that destiny has store for us. 
Hie therefore, to your sundry sentry posts, 
And there await the coming of the foe. ' 

Give way to cowardice in nought you do. 
Nor deem me other than I am, your friend, 
And proud protector in the king's good name. 
My little ones, good Pontgrave will care 
For you. Couillard, remain. Come hither, friends 
And reverend sirs, that counsel we may take. 



2i6 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 



ACT III. SCENE lo. 

The capitulation of Quebec. A room in the Habitation, 
in which some effort has been made to improve 
the dismal aspect of things. The Recollets and 
the Jesuit Fathers are present, along zvith what- 
ever attendants the governor has been able to 
muster. 

Champi^ain. Remonstrance has been made. The 
dignity 
Of governance has been upheld. Respect 
Has not been wanting from our enemy ; 
And now there but remains to press the terms 
On which we must surrender. Here I hold 
Their writ demand and our reply thereto. 
Brave Father Joseph has but found his way 
From off the English fleet, prepared, no doubt, 
To tell us how his mission fared on board. 
To amplify our plea for some delay. 

Father Joseph. There was but one, and only one 
reply 
To all my urgency, and that was this : 
Quebec is theirs by right of force majeure. 
And they must take it at the cannon's mouth. 
If meekness fail us. 

CouiLLARD (aside). They must have schooled 
With De Caen, who stole the mariner's ship. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 217 

Champlain. What said they of the peace*° that's 
ratified 
Of late, between the warring nations? 

Father Joseph. Nought 

They said to adorn the calendar of sense : 
The place is theirs to take, and they must take it. 

CouiLLARD (aside). After the manner of the De 
Caens ! 
When will the breed die out while might is right? 

Champlain. Messieurs, 'tis ours, in this our day of 
fate. 
To brave two foes at once. The one we've dared 
Up to the brink of death ; and none can vote 
Us cravens when, the other to escape, 
We plead our dire distress and lack of arms. 
To those who have commission over us. 
England and France, if we have heard aright, 
Are now at peace. These Kirkes are at our gates, 
Accredited, perchance, but over-late 
In this their siege. Therefore New France is none 
Of theirs, though we withdraw : in time our own 
Must be returned. Why should we then repine? 
Our foe in arms relieves our foe of want. 
And we are rid of both, with no great loss 
To our complacency, none to our courage. 
By these our terms,*i request is made to give 
An honourable exit unto those who leave, 
Protection unto those who fain would stay, 
With arms and property secured to all. 



2i8 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Details there are — but here comes one who has, 
No doubt, our fate all in his convoy's keep. 

Bitter an Envoy from the Kirkes. All rise to greet him 
and his attendants with due formality. 

Envoy. My masters, in the admiral's name, their 
brother, 
Return fair answer to your latest plea for peace. 
As mercy wills. 

Champlain. Nay, peace for justice' sake. 

Envoy. Mercy or justice, it is meet for you. 
As suppliants, to sue, not to demand. 
The admiral, who is at Tadousac, 
Will give full warrant for his high command, 
As he may will it there. Nor can you have 
A ship to France your own, who wish to leave — • 
Only to England passage in an English ship, 
To obviate surprise upon the seas. 
All chattels are escheat, yet clemency 
Will not withhold what's due to personal need. 
No more than bounty, courteous with its aid, 
Will tolerate what bears the mark of spoil. 

ChampIvAIN. The terms, perchance, are better than 
their tone. 

Envoy. The tone is as the times. Sweet words come 
in 
When war goes out, and I am waiting yours 
To give it conge for example's sake. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 219 

When once the keys are given up, my task 
Returns into my masters' hands, to be 
By them prolonged or circumscribed, 
As they deem best. 

Champlain. You hear the terms, messieurs, 
Submission first, with clemency in trust : 
Shall we give way? 

[All bozv silently, and Champlain takes up his 
pen to sign for capitulation. 

Champlain (continues). One poor last word from 
me 
Before I sign. Immunity for all 
Herein is ratified. The public weal, 
Whate'er is left of. it, has been released 
From jeopardy. Our honour holds respect 
For what it is. Our valour's unimpugned ; 
And so, resigned, we bow our heads to fate. 
Under proud England's shield, we all return 
To France — the sons of France to France. But what 
Of these my filles petites of wigwam birth. 
My heart's desire, the children of my years? 
Have they release ? They are not French, 'tis true ; 
But they are mine, my very own indeed : 
And I would have the * playmates still 
Around my knee. 

Envoy. Should thus a patron's plea 

Make hazard of a country's good? 

Champlain. Ah, that! 

Then this has been remit for afterthought? 



220 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Envoy. Nay it has been refused. 

ChampIvAin. Refused? If so, 

Then bid I pen good-bye. No signature 
Of mine will seal this traitorous document. 
But why refused? 

Envoy. 'Tis said an Indian war 

Would issue be,*'^ were they removed to France. 

Champlain. Who talketh thus, inimical to me 
And mine, as he must be? 

Envoy. This you may know 

In time, without my aid. What wots it now? 
Do you refuse to sign ? 

Champlain (perturbed). Not for Quebec's release 
Would I, its governor, refuse to sign, 
Nor dare refuse, in presence of our straits. 
But for these innocents ! For them I'd dare — 
Alas ! I am a bowed man grief-struck. 
Encompassed round with foes — not men, but fiends, 
Who barter lies for passion's sake, devise 
Fell deeds by subterfuge, and heartless mock 
The virtues of their friends. These would me break? 
But I will not be broken. Men are made 
To do their duty, not to seek repose 
Beyond the aim of lurking enemy, 
Away from breaking. Broken ? Never ! See, 
The signing of this paper breaks me not, 
Though I may lose my children by the act. 
I am a bowed man, not broken yet ; 
For you, my friends, and for Quebec I sign ; 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 221 

And should I make appeal, my little ones 
To save from all this wreckage of our enterprise, 
Your master. Monsieur Envoy, giving heed 
To my request, may earn a better name 
Than conqueror. Quebec is taken ! We, 
Disarmed by fate, submit, God help us all! 
Give to your masters message of our act; 
Speak peace to them in our behalf ; for since 
You have in hand the record of our rout, 
Sweet words may now come in as war goes out. 

[Exit the Envoy and his attendants. 

Alas ! Quebec is taken — taken at last ! 

Messieurs, my friends, what more is there to say? 

I am not well, and would be all alone. 

Adieu ! there may be lifting to our sorrow, 

When sleep evolves relieving for the morrow. 

ChampIvAin (alone). Quebec is taken! What of 
that, you say? 
Since, line by line, its tale hath been of woe. 
Sowing surprise in every paragraph. 
Which folly could or would not comprehend. 
Is life a game that flits from hope to hope ? 
Are toils but play with heavier tools than toys? 
Are men but children aching from their games? 
Quebec is taken ! And the doom of it 
Brings aching now to me, alas ! enough 
To probe my reason to its inmost quick. 
The fact — the overwhelming fact ! Who says 
The past redeems it with its pros and cons 
15 



222 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Of praise or blame ? The future may, you say ! 
Ah, ha, the future? Would you play the game 
Once more, Champlain, to be a fool for nothing? 
Methinks the Cardinal did Roquemont send 
To tilt with fate, and bravely, too. But why, 
When Kirke made pause a year, was aid withheld? 
Was Richelieu afraid? Ha, ha, the duke, 
The man of iron, was't he who was afraid? 
Nay, rather, was it not, as it has ever been, 
This devil's hunt for dividends enlarged, 
This trading greed a-hoarding of its gold, 
That shameless left us panting here for lack 
Of food and arms ? Alas ! the wreck of it ! 
The shame of it! The ruins of a hope! 
The present, past, and future playing game 
Of hide-and-seek, jeering at my chagrin! 
Despair, despair, we're in it dark enough, 
The ditch you once did laugh at, my Helene ; 
Ay, in it deep enough and dark enough, 
With foundering to our vows! Who interrupts? 

Enter Hopk and Charity, running toivards hmi. 

Ah, ha, 'tis you, my chits. Come to my knees, 
My little ones ! What brings you round me now ? 
To give me kisses when my sun is low. 
And make my twilight dawn? 

Enter Pontgrave and Couillard. 

So, ho, my friends, 
'Twas you who sent them hither. Nay, look 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 22^ 

Me in the face, my Pontgrave, nor seek 
To say me nay. These eyes of mine behave 
As if from sunshine we should borrow showers. 
'Twas good of you to come, couched, as you've been. 
With pain so long. And you, Guillaume Couillard ! 
The world is not a blank with two such friends. 
Quebec is taken ! Ay, but friendship holds 
Its own, and ever will, I trow, as God designs. 
These pets of mine they surely will not take 
From me. Yet who can tell what hate will do? 
Your wife, Guillaume, hath not a heart of stone, 
And she may give them of its mother's warmth 
Until I come to claim them. Come to claim them! 
Perchance in time — Nay, nay, the day is dark. 
Too dark for prophecy. Good night, good night ; 
Patience in darkness is our only light. 



224 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

ACT III. SCENE II. 

The return of Champlain. The courtyard of the Fort 
St. Louis. Champlain zvaiting to receive the 
keys of the place from SiEUR de Caen zvho has 
held it in trust for the French Government from 
the time of its surrender by Sir David Kirke. 
Files of musketeers and pikemcn surround the 
newly arrived Governor, zvith the crozvding in- 
habitants of the colony near by. Salutes from 
the fort and counter cannonading from the ships 
in the harbour. 

The People. Joy, joy! Champlain is home again, 
mont-joie! 

Song and Chorus. 

There is no waiting- that will not be blessed, 
With justice bringing faith its recompense: 

The worst must ever greet in time the best, 
With no reprisal in its impotence. 

Up, then, with joy in hand, 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, " 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, at joy's command, 
Raise we our zivats long and strong, 
Vive le gouverneur! 

Enter Fathers Le Jeune and Brebeue in haste from 
the Mission House of the Jesuits, these being now 
the only missionaries in the place. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 225 

Le Jeune;. Welcome thrice welcome, to your home 
once more^ 
Under the auspices of this new regime! 

Bre;be;ui''. I bid you welcome, too, with joy to spare 
From this my own return an hour ago. 

Champi^ain. Surprise gives greeting a romantic 
tinge, 
When two such veteran pcrcs take part in it. 
I know not if these shouts be orthodox, 
Exuberant toned from river front to fort ; 
But now your presence ample warrant gives 
That I may them accept as loyalty. 
This is a day to be remembered. 

The People. Joy, joy! Champlain is home again, 
mont-joie! 

Champlain. Peace, peace, my friends ! We may 
not mar the hour, 
Which is the king's. Patience gives etiquette 
An undertone, which we had best observe. 
Until the master of the fort appears 
To give me up the keys. He tarries long. 

Enter Sieur de Caen with some show of state. 

De Caen. I heard your volley when the anchor 
dropped, 
And gave reply. This unkempt din of song 
And roistering glee I deem a liberty — 
An insult to the dignity of rule. 
Verged, as it is, on change. 



226 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

Champi^ain. Pardonne, monsieur, 

When law and order would its lesson learn 
From De Caen, then may the universe 
Seek mending at the hand of fallen angel. 
My virtues are but few, but were it mine 
To borrow from your stock, I fear I'd rue 
The minuend. If aught be much amiss 
'Tis in our patience overtaxed to hear 
You reprimand the loyalty of these 
Your whilom subjects. Therefore I would have 
The emblems of your power given o'er at once, 
So you may be delivered from the task 
Of ruling ne'er-do-wells. 

[Champlain receives the keys of Fort St. Louis 
from De; Caen amid the plaudits of the col- 
onists. 

The lot is mine 
To hold these keys by right of sovereign's seal. 
The country's host, I may not hinder you 
From making peace v/ith these. Hither, my friends, 
With me, that we may see what there is left 
Of dignity within this ruler's home. 

[Exit Champlain with his immediate attendants 
and the Jesuit Fathers, SiEUR de Caen being 
left alone with the crowd. 

CouiLLARD. I would a word with you, my noble 
Sieur, 
And these would like to hear what I would say. 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 227 

Nay, nay, you must not go, as once I told 
Beauchasse, when they were teasing him 
For his iniquities. 

[Couiivi^ARD lays his heavy hand on De; Caen's 
shoulder, as he once laid it upon Beau- 
chasse's when the indignant colonists were 
burning the effigy of the latter; and the peo- 
ple, zvith threatening looks, draw near to 
listen. 

Dk Caen. You would insult me? 

CouiivLARD. Insulting's not my trade as theft is yours : 
The truth is no insult, only a scourge 
At times, when cowardice undoes its trews. 

De; Caen. How dare you, sir? 

CouiivLARD. I dare to do and more, 

Most noble Sieur, remembering, as I do. 
The mariner's ship, and other heartless acts 
Of yours against the poor. The good old man 
Was robbed ; and we are here to think of him 
As one who ne'er deceived his fellow-man. 
You ask me why I dare ! Ah, De Caen, 
The measure of your past misanthropies 
Puts daring out of countenance. Your fame 
Is infamy inborn, with brow and cheek of brass. 
Nor need you look to these for sympathy ; 
They know you well. 

[The people murmur louder. 



221 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 



' Your name is infamy, 
And now Champlain is here to save Quebec 
From your rapacity. 

De; Caen. Give way, you hulk! 

Couii^LARD. Nay, you must stay and hear me to the 
end. 
Beauchasse did so, even while his double burned. 

■ [The murmurs of the people zvax louder and 
louder, 'and finally the kindling indignation, 
at CouilIvArd's suggestion, no doubt, develops 
into the old cry of hate and merriment : Beau- 
chasse, toujours Beauchasse, Beauchasse a 
bas! 

CouiLivARD. You hear, the wolves have still their 
howl. 
Though they be famished less. 

De Caen. Was it Champlain, 

You fiend, who bade you ribald me? 

CouiLLARD. Champlain ! 

He is within, and always speaks the truth. 
Indeed, the wolves may show their teeth so white 
That you may have to seek him. 

De; Caen. Let me go, 

I say. 

A Voice;. Caen a bas! 

Couillard. You hear the wolves! 



CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 229 

[De; Caen draws closer to Couili^ard. 

De Caen. The Cardinal will hear of this in time. 

The Crowd. Caen, tou jours Caen, Caen a bas! 

Couillard. They will be singing of you soon, as 
once 
They did in honour of Beauchasse; and then 
You'll know what liberties they're keen to take. 
As insult to your dignity of rule, 
In tones of tyranny your own. 

The Crowd. Caen, tou jours Caen, Caen a bas! 

They sing. 

We have him now, the devil's chicken, 

A bas Caen! 
Fit for devil's broth to thicken, 

A bas Caen! 
Now you feel of death the shiver. 
Cent per cent must go for ever, 
As the goods we now deliver, 

Tou jours Caen a bas! 

Couillard. Ha, ha, their ire's a-storm! Keep near 
me now ! 
I did not think the touchwood was so dry. 

Enter Champlain, the Jesuit Fathers, and the Soldiers. 

Champlain. What's this, my friends? Your tur- 
moil's out of date. 



230 CHAMPLAIN: A DRAMA 

This man is now my guest, secure from harm 

As if he were mine host. Undo these looks 

Of wrath. Turn not our triumph into spite. 

Sing, if you will, your songs of joy in peace. 

Quebec was taken once by force of arms : 

And now it has been taken once again, 

Under the auspice of a new regime. 

As Father Jeune has said. Guillaume Couillard, 

I charge you, take Sieur De Caen within, 

And treat him as you would your best of friends. 

The Crowd. Joy, joy! Champlain is home again, 
mont-joie! 

Song and Chorus. 

Again we greet the hero of our choice, 

Accept the blessings heaven and earth outpour : 
Away with wrath ! With heart's ease in our voice, 
Let's fill the land with joy from shore to shore. 
Up, then, with joy in hand. 
Raise we our vivats famed in song, 
Vive le roi! 
Up, then, at joy's command, 
Raise we our vivats long and strong: 
Vive le goiiverneur ! 



V 



Notes on the Drama 



Notes on the Drama 



Notes to Act I 

1. The Stadacona Woods. Champlain's first attempts at grain- 
raising in his Quebec colony were confined to the fertile tract 
of ground running back from the edge of the rock, across what 
are now known as the Place d'Armes, the Anglican Cathedral 
Close and the cloisters of the Ursuline Convent. This tract, as 
he tells us, was covered by hard-wood thickets, a sure indica- 
tion of its fertility. This fertility, it may further be said, 
extended across the plateau to what are now the grounds of 
the Laval University, where Hebert and Couillard made contem- 
porary attempts at growing cereals and garden stuff. The 
original village of Stadacona is supposed to have lain to the 
south-west of this tract, near where the glacis of the Citadel 
now slopes upward. 

2. Jean Duval and Antoine Natcl. These are the genuine 
names of two of the conspirators. In fact, the plot against 
Champlain's life, as represented in Act I., is substantially his- 
toric, in terms of what Champlain himself has told us of the 
occurrence. The license of blank verse and the dignity of the 
old Parisian French of the period have to be taken as a justifica- 
tion of the phraseology put into the mouths of the two chief 
conspirators. 

3. " While grows this Habitation." Some have thought to 
suppress the aspirate in the name given to this the first dwell- 
ing erected in Quebec, by using the form I'Abitation. But the 
most of English writers speak of it as the Habitation, a word 
of three rhythmical feet or five syllables wherever it occurs in 

233 



234 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

the versification. The site of this first Government House in 
Canada was near what is now the corner of Notre Dame 
and Sous le Fort Streets, possibly a few yards from the 
site occupied by the chapel of Notre Dame des Victoires. 
The plan of the structure is best understood by exam- 
ining the quaint drawing which Champlain himself has left of 
it to us, with its three main double-storied and semi-detached 
buildings, measuring respectively eighteen feet by sixteen; its 
storehouse, courtyard and dovecot or watch-tower; its gallery 
and small esplanade; its palisade and ditch. The house was 
originally built at the expense of the trading company organ- 
ized by Sieur de Monts. The group of buildings had its garden 
attached, running out towards the shore line of the Cul-de-Sac 
on the one side and the open river on the other. Sagard tells 
us that it was altogether " a fine house," though he had no very 
high opinion of its strength to resist even an Indian attack upon 
it. At first the edifice afforded accommodation for the com- 
pany's labourers and mechanics. In 1616 it provided accommo- 
dation for the first settlers and their wives; and, in 1621, when 
sundry huts had been erected for these, it was fitted up as the 
home of Madame de Champlain. Even then the buildings were 
beginning to show signs of having been too hurriedly built, 
wooden structures as they were. Indeed, when Champlain 
brought out his young bride from France, one of the wings was 
in a state of collapse, while the others were far from being wind 
or water tight. The neglect of the representatives of the com- 
pany, in providing for the repairing of the property, was of a 
piece with their heartlessness towards Champlain in other 
respects, as the preceding drama points out, with due regard to 
historical data. De Caen, the head of the amalgamated com- 
panies, promised to provide for the fortifying of the place, but 
as usual failed to keep his promise. During the occupancy of 
the edifice by the Kirkes, the improvements put out on it by 
Champlain were further supplemented; though, when Emery de 
Caen and De Plessis Bouchard returned to Quebec, after the 
colony had passed from the hands of the English, there was 
nothing left of the poor old Habitation save a heap of ashes. 
Some say that lightning was the cause of the fire which con- 
sumed it, while others maintain that Thomas Kirke, one of Sir 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 235 

David's brothers left in its charge, intentionally destroyed it at 
the time of his departure. 

4. " Champlain must not return." What the real intentiorb 
Jean Duval had, when he planned the death of Champlain, can 
only be conjectured. What he and his fellow conspirators pro- 
posed to do with Quebec is not easy to make out. Champlain 
had made a name for his intrepidity which had seized the envious 
blacksmith as worthy of imitation in his own person. Samuel 
de Champlain, the principal character in the foregoing drama, 
was born in the little French town of Brouage, in 1570, and died 
in the Fort St. Louis on Christmas Day of 1635. The building 
in which he died stood only a few yards from the spot where 
his monument has been erected. His schooling included a thor- 
ough knowledge of navigation and cartography; while the place 
of his birth, standing, as it does, in view of the Bay of Biscay, 
and having been in his time a military station, gave him many 
opportunities of learning something of the life of the soldier 
and sailor as well as that of the sea-trader. For a period he 
was a quartermaster in the French army, and is said to have 
had an active share in the wars of the League. Subsequently 
he visited the West Indies as captain of a vessel of the Spanish 
fleet, which gave him a chance of seeing the colonies that had 
been planted in the latitudes of the so-called Spanish Main, and 
which probably led him to turn his thoughts towards the lands 
of the higher latitudes in America that might eventually, through 
his own efforts of exploration, come to be known as the French 
Main. He was thirty-five years of age, however, before a first 
opportunity came to him of entering upon his career as an 
explorer. In 1603, Sieur Amyar de Chaste, an ex-Governor of 
Dieppe, took it into his head to establish a colony somewhere on 
the American side of the Atlantic, where he might spend the 
remainder of his days, with his family around him as his neigh- 
bour-colonists. The king granted him the necessary patents, 
and several merchants of Dieppe went shares with him in his 
enterprise of sending out a couple of vessels to spy out the 
lands that had long ago been heard of from Jacques Cartier, 
and from which the Basque fishermen and certain fur-traders 
had brought home valuable cargoes. The captain of one of 



236 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

these ships was a well-known and experienced merchant-mariner 
of the name of Sieur Francois de Pontgrave ; and, shortly 
before the sailing of De Chaste's vessels took place, the owner 
of them, having heard of Champlain and his skill as a geographer 
and chart-maker, invited him to take part in the expedition. 
And, when permission was obtained from the King that this 
officer in the wars of the League should give up his soldiering, 
to take part as an explorer of the North American coast, there 
was no thought in the said officer's mind of refusing De Chaste's 
invitation. Champlain, therefore, started on his first voyage 
with Pontgrave, on the express understanding that he was to 
take rank as the king's geographer in the expedition. From 
that first voyage of his with Pontgrave, Champlain's career 
became the history of Canada. His reports of that voyage and 
subsequent ones along the shores of Acadia, brought him into 
fame at the French court and among the seaport traders, while 
the founding of colonies in Acadia under the auspices of 
De Monts was but the prelude to the founding of Quebec in 
1608, with Champlain for its first governor. After that date 
the biography of the distinguished explorer stands as the 
earliest chapter in the annals of the ancient capital — a com- 
munity which he succeeded in maturing as a place of perman- 
ent abode, under a recurrence of hindrances which might well 
have dismayed the stoutest heart. Indeed, the plot of the 
drama of the preceding pages has its main antithesis in the 
heartlessness of the trading companies and the magnanimity of 
Champlain. (See Champlain, the Explorer.) 

5. " Ugsomc eels and mildeived pulse." Quebec thus early 
was a famous resort of the Indian tribes for the fishing of 
eels. Their starvation fare was dried eels and peas-meal, to 
which the pioneers of Quebec were in time reduced, when the 
cruel-minded De Caen left them to their own resources. 

6. The Cul-de-Sac. This was an inlet or little harbour or 
bight, which originally had the Habitation and the Church 
of the Recollets on its eastern shore. The Champlain Market 
House now stands upon its site, with the outer areas of the 
water space planked over towards the line of the present 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 237 

steamboat slips. Before it was turned into a market-place, two 
wharfages ran out into its waters with a slip between, thus 
providing moorage for the schooners engaged in the river traffic. 
At the foot of the Breakneck Steps, which formed the short-cut 
from upper town to the Cul-de-Sac, there are the remains of 
a tomb which for a time was fallaciously supposed to be the 
sepulchre particuUcr in which Champlain was buried. Not far 
from this was the Champlain Spring, from which the Habitation 
was supplied with the purest of spring water. In later times 
the said Cul-de-Sac was surmounted by the Royal Battery, which 
stood near the foot of Sous le Fort Street, and was looked 
upon as the business centre of lower town before the opening 
up of St. Peter's Street and Dalhousie Street as thoroughfares. 

7. "Madame de Gtiercheville still zvould have her pcres." 
This French lady, once a maid of honour to the wife of 
Henry IV., was a marquise in her own right, and possessed of 
large means. She became interested in the conversion of the 
Indian tribes of Canada, and, in line with her enthusiasm, she 
at one time secured a grant of all the territory once allotted 
to De Monts and his company for evangelizing purposes. Her 
efforts in Acadia ended in failure, partly from the quarrel 
between the Jesuit Fathers she had sent out and Biencourt, 
the son of Baron Poutrincourt, and partly from the interferences 
of Sir Samuel Argyll, Governor of Virginia. Both De Monts 
and Champlain urged her to come to the rescue of Quebec. But 
De Monts being a Huguenot, she would have none of the 
parsons of his church as evangelists ; and it was not until 1625, 
when the Due de Ventadour became Viceroy of New France, 
that she extended a generous hand to the Jesuits' Mission, with 
sympathy in her heart neither for Recollect friars nor Huguenot 
parsons. 

8. " Supplies afresh from Tadousac." Tadousac, situated at 
the mouth of the Saguenay, seems to have been a rendezvous 
for the French fur-traders from the days of Jacques Cartier. 
It possessed a splendid back-country for the procuring of the 
fur-bearing animals of the forest. The first company's house 
erected in the locality was built by Sieurs Chauvin and Pont- 

16 



238 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

grave, and within its store-rooms supplies were kept for dis- 
tribution even after Champlain had established himself at 
Quebec. But for the severity of its winters and the sterility 
of its surroundings, Tadousac might have become a formidable 
rival to Quebec, as it certainly was for years as a peltry depot. 

9. " Bark-built, though not all barques." The birch-bark 
supplied the Indian tribes with wigwams for residences and 
canoes for river and lake explorations, as well as many other 
conveniences in their rude domesticity. The word barque has 
a technical sense, inasmuch as it denotes a sailing vessel of 
three masts, the foremast and the mainmast being square rigged 
and the mizzenmast schooner rigged. 

10. " The Montagnais no doubt." The Montagnais, a branch 
of the Algonquins, occupied the region round the Saguenay 
and along the north side of the St. Lawrence. It was through 
their influence that Champlain made the mistake of his career 
as governor, namely, the invasion of the territory of the 
Iroquois. He was later involved in trouble by their faithless- 
ness in failing to meet him on his way up the Ottawa for 
exploration purposes ; in their cruel murder of two French 
sportsmen on the Beauport Flats ; and their subsequent threat- 
ened massacre of the whole population of Quebec as a means 
of escaping punishment. 

11. "Pierre Chavin knows what I zvould." Pierre Chavin is 
an historic name. He is on record as having been placed in 
charge of Quebec during Champlain's absence. In 1610, he is 
said to have been relieved by the governor on his return, and 
to have received the highest commendation for his tactful suc- 
cess in bringing the colony through its first two winters. He 
was succeeded by Sieur du Pare in the year mentioned, when 
he returned to his home in Rouen. 

12. "A guide for Captain Blais." Blais' name is imhistoric. 

13. "Messages from Pont grave." The character of Pontgrave 
was akin to Champlain's own for humaneness. The former 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA * 239 

was originally a merchant of Rouen, who associated himself 
intimately in trade with Chauvin, the peltry merchant, and after- 
wards with De Chaste. His full name was Francois du Pont, 
Sieur de Grave, but history knows him best as Pontgrave, the 
kind-hearted mariner, the faithful friend of Champlain. He had 
to do with the carrying of the first of the colonists to Acadia, 
and afterwards joined Champlain in his plans for the coloniz- 
ing of Quebec. There should be a monument erected to his 
memory at Tadousac, of which port he was really the pioneer 
navigator. While staunchly standing by his duty in with- 
standing the Basque fur-poachers, it was there he was wounded 
and had a number of his crew killed ; and it was there he came 
face to face with the De Caens, who demanded the surrender 
of his vessel on a mere technicahty of their charter. The only 
time Pontgrave seriously dififered from Champlain was when 
the latter asked him to assume charge of Le Coqiiin. The 
friendship between these prominent pioneers, however, was as 
unselfish as unaffected. After the surrender of Quebec to the 
Kirkes, Pontgrave returned to his home in Rouen. As late 
as 1645, ten years after Champlain's death, he was in Quebec 
with five ships under his charge, and bearing with him the 
memorial of the agreement between the colonists and the trad- 
ing company then holding the peltry monopoly. According to 
the _terrhs of that treaty the colonists secured a profit of two 
hundred thousand francs from this one expedition for the col- 
lecting of furs, while the company itself secured only half that 
amount for its share of profit. In a word, Pontgrave was not 
only a skilful navigator but an honest trader as well as a safe 
friend. 

14. " To every Basque and Maloiiin ghoul afloat." The Basques 
still form a large community under the shadow of the Pyrenees 
and near the apex of the Bay of Biscay. From their seaports 
they were drawn across the Atlantic, even before Cartier's time, 
on account of the wealth in the fisheries of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence and its exits to the ocean. Their territory has 
always been partly in France, but mostly in Spain. They have 
a language of their own. Malouin is the name given to a 
citizen of St. Malo, from which many fishermen and traders 
^sailed every year to Canada after Cartier's visit. 



240 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

15. " While yet Quebec is in its infancy." There were not 
more than twenty-eight of the company brought out by Cham- 
plain in 1608 who decided to spend a winter under the shelter 
of Mont du Gas, as Cape Diamond was first called. One of 
Champlain's witticisms was to the effect that for every ounce 
of cold there was at Quebec there was a pound of it at 
Tadousac; and the severity of that first winter at Quebec would 
have been as bearable then to the European as it is now, had 
the proper precautions been taken in the matter of food and 
clothing. As late as October Champlain made his first sowings 
of wheat and rye, November bringing the first fall of snow with 
its Indian summer after. In February a blizzard fell upon the 
community which lasted for two days and two nights. In April 
the snow had disappeared, and in May the trees had assumed 
their foliage, when all was well again with the little com- 
munity to enjoy the summer weather. As far as the weather 
was concerned, Quebec in its infancy had the climate it has 
now, only with much to learn on the part of its people as to 
how to withstand it with comfort and a freedom from the scurvy 
and other complaints. The place had been christened Quebec, 
or Kebec, by the Indians — a term which in their speech meant 
merely the " narrows " at the lakelike confluence of the St. 
Lawrence and the St. Charles. 

16. " To bell tlie cat." The fable of the mice and the cat 
culminates in the difficulty of securing the services of any one 
mouse brave enough to tie the bell around the cat's neck as a 
sounding alarm to the others to get out of its way when it goes 
out on the hunt for its prey. Archibald, Bell the Cat, is a 
soubriquet well known in Scottish history. 

17. " IV e have no justice court." A permanent court of justice 
at Quebec was not estabhshed until 1620; at least, we are told 
that M. Nicholas was greffier or clerk of such a court in 1621, 
when the colonists held a first pubhc meeting to prepare a 
memorial to the king setting forth the disabilities under which 
the colony was labouring. At that time Louis Hebert had been 
appointed Crown Counsel for the colony, or Procureur du Roi, 
and Gilbert Courseron, constable, or Lieutenant du Prevost. 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 241 

18. " The citadel my brave Chavin zvill hold," that is, the 
Habitation, the building of the Fort St. Louis not having been 
yet thought of. 

19. " Make up a gamme de trois," that is, a tune in which the 
first three notes of the scale alone are used, as in many Indian 
melodies. 

20. "And then Dc Chaste when died Chauvin." After the ill- 
fated venture of De la Roche on Sable Island, certain exclusive 
trading rights were bestowed upon Sieur Chauvin, a merchant 
of Pontgrave's native town. With him were associated Sieur 
de Pontgrave and Sieur de Monts. These three made two 
voyages to Tadousac, and a third voyage had been planned 
when Chauvin suddenly died from heart complaint. Shortly 
after, Sieur de Chaste, of Dieppe, had bestowed upon him very 
much the same trading rights as Chauvin had held, with the 
additional understanding that he was to make exploration of 
the country. Pontgrave, as has been said, was in command of 
De Chaste's project, with Champlain as his second. On the 
return of these two navigators they learned that De Chaste had 
died almost as suddenly as De Chauvin ; and since the former's 
commission became null and void on the death of its pos- 
sessor, some other monopolist had to be sought out to make 
application for the trading supremacy on the St. Lawrence. 
This other monopolist was Sieur de Monts. 

21. " Darache's treacherous pistol shot." De Monts had 
secured, like his predecessors, a monopoly of the fur trade. 
When, however, Pontgrave, in 1608, reached Tadousac, preced- 
ing Champlain by a few weeks, he found several Basque poachers 
around Tadousac under the leadership of one Darache. When 
remonstrated with, this same Darache not only defied the 
mariner of Rouen and his written commission from the king, 
but attacked the company's vessels, wounding Pontgrave, killing 
several of his crew, and dismantling the mariner's own ship of 
everything in the shape of firearms and other weapons of 
defence. 

22. " Dovecot built by Poutrincourt." Port Royal, now the 



242 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

town of Annapolis in Nova Scotia, was virtually founded by 
Baron Poutrincourt, a French gentleman who had accompanied 
De Monts and Champlain on their visit to the arm of the sea 
now known as Annapolis Basin. Being charmed with the site 
and surroundings of the place, Poutrincourt made an instant 
request to De Monts for a grant of the locality. The story 
belongs to Acadian history. 

23. " Racked zvith pricst-and-parso» strife." The strife began 
on the way out to Port Royal, there being in the company of 
intending colonists several Catholic priests and Huguenot mis- 
sionaries, whose argumentations were of such a character as 
to excite the false suspicion that one of the former had been 
murdered in the woods of St. Mary's Bay. 

/24. " Ciil-de-Sac and Storehouse Point." See Note 5. Store- 
house Point seems to have been in the direction where the 
Custom House of Quebec now stands. 

25. '"''Noel and all the rest." There were in all four Noels 
mentioned in connection with the pre-Champlain period. Jacques 
Noel, the nephew of Jacques Cartier, was associated with Sieur 
de la Journaye Chaton, in 1585, in prosecuting the fur trade, 
but they were heartlessly deprived of their claims when the 
Marquis de la Roche was endowed with the somewhat empty 
honours which had been exempted by the death of Roberval. 
Etienne Noel, anotlier of Cartier's nephews, was with the latter 
when he encamped at Cap Rouge, and carried home the intelli- 
gence that the cliffs of that locality were rich in diamonds and 
gold, which, however, turned out to be but " cape diamonds 
and pyrites." The former Noel had two sons in Canada for a 
time, named, respectively, Jean and Michael. These heirs of 
Cartier were, however, all set aside from realizing on their 
uncle's explorations through the intervention of the merchants 
of St. Malo, who claimed that Cartier's commission was inimi- 
cal to the well-being of their seaport, li Cartier had spent 
more money on his voyages than he had received from the 
Crown, they said, the St. Malo merchants had also made invest- 
ments in connection with the fur-trade of Canada which were 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 243 

not to be belittled. Lescarbot is quite indignant over the treat- 
ment of Cartier's heirs, reminding the public that they were 
the sufiferers with the Noels, since beaver skins had advanced 
in price four hundred per cent, from the time when Jacques 
Noel had the trade in his own hand. 

26. " When merry Marc Lescarbot ruled the roast." Port 
Royal was founded in 1604, though it was not until the return 
of Poutrincourt, in 1606, that there came much of an interest 
into its early days. Along with Poutrincourt there came out 
from France M. Marc Lescarbot, a Parisian poet, who has 
left us a history of the New France of his own and Champlain's 
time, and whose name is specially connected with the festivities 
of the first French capital in Acadia, during the winter of 1606 
and under the auspices of " The Order of the Good Time." 
Andrew Archer, in his concise way, thus writes of these fes- 
tivities : " Lescarbot remained in command of the fort : to direct 
the ploughing and sowing of the fields around it, to till his 
garden, to indite a rhyme, or write a page of his History of 
New France. When Champlain returned in November, rather 
disconsolate from his cruise, the irrepressible Marc, habited like 
old Father Neptune, appeared at the gate of the fort, sur- 
rounded by his Tritons, and welcomed him with a poetical 
address. To pass the time pleasantly, fifteen of the gentlemen 
of the colony instituted the Order of the Good Time. Each of 
them held the office of grand-master for a day, whose duty it 
was to cater for the company. At the hour of dinner this 
grand-master, with the staff of office in his hand, a napkin on 
his shoulder, and the collar of the order around his neck, entered 
the hall, followed by the members of his brotherhood, each 
bearing a dish. There was great rivalry among them as to who 
should provide the best table. Their board groaned with the 
variety of fish and game. The best restaurant in Paris, Lescarbot 
boasted, could not show a better bill of fare. An Indian tribe 
was encamped near Port Royal. The merry and hospitable 
Frenchmen invited its sagamore, Membertou, and other chiefs 
to their table. Warriors of less note, and women and children, 
crouched in the corners of the hall, and were fed from the 
board. The winter was mild and genial, and it gave zest to 
The Good Time." " Roast " has been substituted in the text for 
" roost " in the proverb. 



244 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 



Notes to Act II 

I. The Boullcs. Before Champlain set sail for Quebec, in 
1611, he had become betrothed to Helene BouUe, the daughter 
of M. Nicholas Boulle, of Paris, who is said to have made 
investments in the colonizing enterprises undertaken by De 
Monts and his associates. The family, as far as can be ascer- 
tained, consisted of a son and daughter, the son having taken 
passage for Canada in one of the Company's vessels two years 
before Champlain decided to take his wife out to live with him 
in the Habitation. The family were Huguenots, and this is 
possibly one reason why so little is known of Champlain's domes- 
tic affairs from the early annals of Quebec. All that is known 
for a certainty is that the marriage contract between the gov- 
ernor and his wife arranged that the one should fall heir to all 
that the other possessed, and that Madame Champlain survived 
her husband nineteen years, having retired to a nunnery at 
Meaux of her own founding, after his death, and leaving behind 
her a name for sanctity still preserved in the convent's records. 
She was about twenty-two years of age when she arrived in 
Canada, remaining mistress of the Habitation for not more than 
four years. There is more known of her brother than of the 
other members of the family. In his eighteenth year he came 
out to Canada and boarded the vessel which bore Champlain 
and his wife to Quebec as it was passing Cap Tourmente. He 
had spent a winter with Pontgrave in the Habitation. As one 
of the residents of the place his name is affixed to the petition 
which was sent to the king from the first public meeting ever 
held in Canada, remonstrating with the viceroy's decree launch- 
ing the company of the De Caens. He is also mentioned as the 
captain of Le Coquin, as it set out on its perilous voyage 
with thirty of the famishing colonists of Quebec on board, who, 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 245 

happily for them, fell into the hands of Kirke on their way out 
to the open sea. Madame Champlain's Christian name has had 
the accent placed on its last syllable for the sake of the rhythm. 

2. " Returned zvith Monsieur L'Ange." What is known of 
the poet L'Ange is very meagre. He indited an ode to Cham- 
plain on the issue of the latter's first volume of travel published 
in 1613 ; and afterwards followed the explorer as far as Mont- 
real, where he was the first to announce to him on his return 
from the West the arrival of Maisonncuve. M. L'Ange returned 
to Paris after spending only a few months in Canada. 

3. "Loving ride a la volante." As one on wing, volant being 
the French for shuttlecock. 

4. " To climb proud Mont du Gas." The full name and title 
of De Chaste's successor was Pierre du Gas, Sieur de Monts de 
Saintonge, and Champlain gave the name Mont du Gas to Cape 
Diamond in honour of the same. When it was changed to its 
present name is unknown. 

5. "And yet another zantli the Recollets." The Recollets 
arrived in Canada in 1615, though Champlain was in communi- 
cation with the superiors of the order for a whole year before 
he could influence them to consent to the sending of a contingent 
of four priests. 

6. " My friend H chert." Whatever were the doubts in the 
mind of the Parisian druggist before he left Paris to be a 
farmer in New France, or the hardships he had to undergo 
from the climate and the opposition of the Company, he never 
seems to have wavered in his loyalty towards his adopted coun- 
try. The site of his farm-house was where the Laval University 
now stands, though he was owner of other property in the 
vicinity, having transferred the portion of land at the mouth of 
the St. Charles for a monastery farm for the Recollets, in 
exchange for their property adjoining the Habitation. He died 
in 1627, his remains being deposited in the graveyard of the 
Recollets at the St. Charles, and afterwards removed to the 



246 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

grounds of the Recollets now built over by the Anglican 
Cathedral. His family remained in Quebec during its occupa- 
tion by the Kirkes, and one of its streets still goes by the name 
of the faithful old pioneer. 

7. "From Orleans unto Helen's Isle." That is, from the 
Island of Orleans, opposite Quebec, to St. Helen's Isle, opposite 
Montreal. The latter was so named by Champlain in honour of 
his betrothed ; the former received its present name in honour 
of Philippe de Valois, Duke of Orleans and son of Francis I., 
though the Indians had called it Minigo and Cartier the Isle de 
Bacchus. 

8. " Couillard, Duchene and I." Of the first of the pioneers 
who were with Champlain, Couillard took second place with 
Louis Hel)ert, his father-in-law. Pierre Desportes was placed 
in charge of Champlain's meadows at Cap Tourmente. Abraham 
Martin had a farm of his own, twelve acres from the Company 
and thirty-two acres which he had from his neighbour Duchene. 
Pivert and Desportes, like Hebert, Couillard, Martin, and others, 
retained their property during the time of the Kirkes. 

9. " This Charles Bourbon." Charles de Bourbon, Count de 
Soissons, was brother to Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Conde. 
They were both Catholics, the one succeeding the other as 
Viceroy of New France. 

ID. " But nei'er was a Bourbon Huguenot." This is hardly 
correct, since Henry of Navarre has been looked upon as the 
first of the Bourbon line, and in 1569 joined the Huguenot army 
as an ally of Admiral Coligny. It was in 1593 Henry turned 
Catholic, seventeen years before his assassination by the fanatic 
Ravaillac. 

II. " When Medicis zvas queen." There were two queens of 
France whose records are apt to become mixed in the memory 
of the casual reader, namely, Catharine de Medicis and Marie 
de Medicis. The former was the wife of Henry II., at whose 
door has been laid part of the blame for the Massacre of St. 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 247 

Bartholomew in 1572 and the religious wars of the kingdom 
of France during her regency. The latter was the wife of 
Henry IV., who was, however, not crowned queen until the 
day before her husband's assassination in 1610. Marie de 
Medicis also was Regent of France for a time, conspired against 
and conspiring, until, escaped from her final imprisonment, she 
ended her days in Cologne under circumstances anything but 
befitting an ex-queen of France. The dates connected with these 
two queens-regent indicate how far they were both connected 
with Canadian history, the birth of the former being in 1519 
and the death of the latter in 1642. 

12. "And bane the Jesuits." The Recollets were favoured 
by Champlain and the Jesuits by Madame de Guercheville and 
the Viceroy. There could, therefore, be no keeping of the sons 
of Loyala out of New France when once they had made up 
their mind to go. On their arrival in 1625 they received but 
scanty welcome from Emery de Caen, who had charge of the 
Company's aflfairs, and had to be housed with the Recollets out 
at the St. Charles until they had raised a monastery of their 
own. Their college was established in 1636, the building having 
been one of the most substantial in Quebec, resisting the wear 
and tear of time down to 1872, when it was razed by the 
" Improvement Commission." It was during the premiership 
of the Hon. Honore Mercier that the Jesuits were awarded 
compensation for the property that was theirs in Canada at 
the time of the Papal Bull which disbanded them in 1773 as an 
order in the Catholic Church. Their mission buildings are still 
standing at Sillery, while the early pages of American history 
bear the record of the enterprise, religious zeal and martyrdom 
of the members of the brotherhood who spent their lives in 
opening up the continent. As the historian Bancroft says of 
them : " The history of their labours is connected with the 
origin of every celebrated town in the annals of French America; 
not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the 
way." The order was re-organized under the sanction of the 
Papal Bull of 1814. 

13. " Tlic veterans of St. Dominic." The Order of Dominicans 



248 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

was confirmed by Pope Honorius in 1216. The early history 
of the Dominicans and the Franciscans in their rivalry as the 
exponents of the intellectual life of the Catholic Church was a 
prominent feature in European circles for many years, the former 
being identified with the upholding of the Inquisition as a means 
of subduing all heretical tendencies among the people for whom 
they laboured. The Dominicans were known as the " black 
friars," and though, like the Franciscans, they were originally a 
mendicant order with the vow of poverty upon them, this dis- 
ability was disallowed in 1425 by Pope Martin. In America their 
labours were associated for the most part, at first, with the 
people of the Spanish settlements. 

14. " The druggist round tlie corner." Sieur Louis Hebert is 
said to have been a druggist in Paris before he set sail for 
Canada ; and this accounts for his intellectual standing as a 
pioneer citizen fit to adorn the office of Procureur du Roi in 
the new land. The study of pharmacy in his day, as in our own, 
demanded a schooling next in importance to the doctor's. 

15. " A certain vcndeur de tabac." Before the days of the 
" tobacconist's shop " as a specialty, the druggist had for one 
of his side lines the sale of snuff. The Spanish taught the 
French the habit of taking snuff, and held a monopoly of its 
manufacture up to the time when the Dutch and the Scotch 
divided the trade. The grinding of the dried leaves of the 
tobacco plant in conical mortars is a specialty, one of the last 
of Canadian snuff factories having been till lately in operation 
in the vicinity of Quebec, although the practice of taking snuff 
has all but disappeared in the respectable circles of society. 

16. " The faithful four of them." One of the Recollets' first 
operations when they reached Quebec was to build their little 
church at the bend of the Cul-de-Sac, and then their monastery 
out at the St. Charles River — the name of which they had 
changed in honour of their patron, Charles des Boues. They 
belonged to a branch of the Franciscan order, unrelieved from 
their vow of perpetual poverty. The Company's charter was 
their only guarantee of support. This was finally withdrawn 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 249 

when the Company of the Hundred Associates came into being. 
In 1629 they returned to France, nor went back with Champlain 
in 1632. Their property for a time fell into the hands of the 
Jesuits, although it was understood that the Recollets might 
appear upon the scene again. At length, at the urgency of the 
people of Quebec, a band of the Recollets set sail from France 
in 1670, only to suffer shipwreck and the loss of their lives. 
This catastrophe did not, however, prevent Pierre Germain 
Allard, Provincial of the Order, with three associates, from 
setting sail the same year to take up their quarters in Quebec. 
The monastery out at the St. Charles was improved by these, 
and afterwards supplemented by the building of their new 
chapel and monastery, right in the centre of the upper town 
of that day, where the Anglican Cathedral now stands. This 
property was burned down in 1796, and since they had given up 
their out-of-town monastery to Bishop St. Valier for a hos- 
pital, and had their only church in the country closed by order 
of the bishop — namely, in Montreal — the Canadian branch of 
the order was finally disbanded. The last Provincial of the order 
was Father Felix de Berey, in whose day the fief of the 
" brown friars " reverted to the British Crown, to be handed 
over to the Anglican Bishop as a site for his cathedral. 

17. " Bcanchasse has lost his hostages." The Indian plot of 
putting the whole white population to death during the absence 
of Champlain had been revealed by one of the chiefs. Two 
Frenchmen had been killed on the Beauport Flats, and this 
massacre their murderers thought would be the safest method 
to adopt to escape punishment. When an investigation was held 
in the Habitation, it was decided that, until Champlain's return, 
two hostages should be given over to the custody of Beauchasse, 
who in turn handed them over to the Recollets, from whom 
they escaped back to their tribe after a month or two of instruc- 
tion at the hands of the fathers. 

18. " Champlain must cast accounts." In the above transac- 
tion Beauchasse's first suggestion was that the friends of the 
murderers should make the Company a present of furs and 
there the matter might be allowed to end in the interests of 



250 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

trade. "What Frenchman's Hfe, think you, will be safe in this 
country, if you once compute its value by so many beaver 
skins?" asked the Recollets. " The "murderers of these men 
must be delivered up, to receive due punishment for their 
crime." And their advice was adopted. 

19. " Where the Grand Place spreads." The Grand Place must 
have been in part the space between the Fort St. Louis and 
the grounds of the Recollets' upper town monastery, occupying 
in part the site of the present Place d'Armes. . 

20. " The coureurs-dc-bois roam." The fur-trade was respon- 
sible for the starting into being of this distinct class of woods- 
men among the early French settlers. In them was to be seen 
the civilized adopting the methods of the savage nomad — a source 
of weakness to their compatriot pioneers and too often a scandal 
to the primitive life of the early Canadian settlers. "Let me 
to the city!" says the country lad in these days, "that I may 
learn of the wonders of life"; just as the pioneer-farmer's son 
too often said in early times : " Let me to the woods, where I 
may get as near to the freedom of nature as possible, and be 
my own master." Francis Parkman has, however, given us a 
poetically drawn picture of the courcur-dc-hois, which we 
would not like to part with, even if the subject of it too fre- 
quently forgot that he had been born a Frenchman in his neglect 
of the industrial, and in his refusal to protect any one but him- 
self. 

21. " With him, my nainesake." Etienne Brule was one of the 
coureurs-de-bois who have come by name under the notice of 
the historian. As a poor French lad he had been taken away 
into captivity by the Hurons ; and when he was brought back 
to Champlain he was attired in the garb of his captors and 
able to speak their language fluently. Champlain thereafter made 
use of him in his explorations. At the time of the siege of 
1629 he was captured by Kirke and is said to have played the 
traitor to his benefactor Champlain. Shortly afterwards he was 
killed by a Montagnais Indian. 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 251 

22. " The master zvould he married." The marriage of Cham- 
plain had long been talked about, he having been betrothed to 
Helene Boulle when she was only a child of twelve or fourteen. 
In locating the possible characteristics of Madame Champlain 
it should be kept in view that she was a woman of twenty-two 
years of age when she arrived in Canada and a matured 
matron of only twenty-six when she returned to France. 

23. "Had much ado to caulk." The neglect into which the 
Habitation was allowed to fall by the De Caens has been illus- 
trated in many ways, but in none more than in the difificulties 
Pontgrave and Etienne Boulle had to keep themselves from per- 
ishing within its walls during the winter of 1620, since, as 
Emery de Caen declared, the mechanics, who ought to have 
been at work on it during the previous autumn months, had 
been withdrawn to build the RecoUets' monastery and the farm 
steadings of Couillard and Hebert. 

24. " / must hie for help." We can find no mention made of 
any medical man being connected with the colony at this time. 
Sieur Hebert must have known more about the art of healing 
than any other person in the place, unless exception is to be 
made of the Recollets, whose preparation for the missionary 
life may have included some knowledge of surgery and materia 
medica. 



252 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 



Notes to Act III 

1. "Into my trinket looking-glass." It was a fashion at this 
period among the ladies of Paris to have hanging at their side 
a small looking-glass, framed in gold or silver, and otherwise 
ornamented with jewels; and the fashion was one which 
Madame de Champlain did not lay aside when she came over 
from France with her husband. The trinket seems to have been 
a favourite object of attraction to the mothers and children of 
her new surroundings. 

2. " To lure the f^eltry pirates from their haunts." These gentry 
were a source of annoyance to the monopolist companies. On 
one occasion Champlain undertook to convince the Indians 
around Quebec that these poachers were no friends of theirs. 
"Their only object," he told them, "is to wheedle you out of 
your furs," and the Indians agreed with him for the moment, 
claiming that the Basque traders and their counterparts from 
St. Malo were nothing but women and only wanted to make 
war upon the beavers of the country and not upon their enemies 
the Iroquois, as Champlain was willing to do. But words were 
soon forgotten by these savages, and the means were not at 
Champlain's disposal to punish the poachers, who made trade 
with the Indians all the same. Lescarbot, in his history, takes 
up the question in these words : " I am not retained to defend 
the cause of the chartered companies," he says ; " but this I do 
know, that to-day, with trade virtually free, beaver skins sell 
at twice the price to the Indians which they formerly did, for 
the greed of the merchants is so uncontrollable that, in bidding 
against one another, they spoil their own game. Eight years 
ago a beaver skin could be had for a couple of loaves or a 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 253 

knife, but to-day an Indian demands fifteen or twenty. And 
in this year of grace, 1610, there are traders who have given 
all their goods gratuitously to the savages, simply to hurt the 
trade of the chartered Company. Such is the envy and avarice 
of men." Yet the merchants of St. Malo had their side of the 
argument. The right of discovery surely ought to have some- 
thing to do, they argued, with the granting of trading privileges, 
and who had a better claim to trade in the St. Lawrence than 
the fellow-citizens of Jacques Cartier, who had been the first 
to winter at Quebec and to make known its resources? 

3. " The Viceroy balking at the expense." Champlain had been 
promised again and again the means of defense and for the 
maintaining of law and order in the colony, even directly, on one 
occasion, in a letter from the king himself; but these promises 
were never kept. On one occasion, when a consignment of arms 
and ammunition had been sent to him at Quebec by the penurious 
Company, the complacent Champlain broke out in these indig- 
nant words: " I could not imagine it possible his Majesty should 
have sent us such a sorry lot of weapons for our defense, espe- 
cially after doing himself the honour of promising by letter an 
ample supply." 

4. "Save for the king's endorsement on the seal." Champlain 
had of his own inception organized the community, and when a 
meeting was held to formulate a remonstrance to the king against 
the recognition of two rival trading companies in the colony, 
the document was signed by the Recollets, Denis Jamay and 
Joseph le Caron ; Louis Hebert, Procureur du Roi ; Gilbert Cour- 
seron. Lieutenant du Prevost ; M. Nicolas, Clerk of the Court 
and the Assembly ; and Baptiste Guers, Commissione du Viceroy. 
These titles were all used, no doubt, without the endorsation 
of the French Government. 

5. " Poor Courseron, the constable." Whatever were the duties 
attached to the above high-sounding offices, the Lieutenant du 
Prevost could hardly have been other than that of constable. 

6. "Another company has been formed." This new company 
17 



254 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

had for its executive in Canada the two De Caens. Champlain 
had had trouble with the old company over his function as gov- 
ernor, and agent of that company; and when the Duke of Mont- 
morency gave a charter to a second company, his functions in 
the colony were further than ever from being defined. As an 
umpire between the rivals, he was all but helpless. 

7. " What think yon of a friendship." Beauchasse is the 
mouthpiece of a principle, non-historic as far as his personality 
is concerned. Jean Caumont dit le Mons was the interim clerk 
of the store of the old company at this time. 

8. " In my company's name.'' The name of the old company 
represented by the approaching Pontgrave. 

9. "And Abraham Martin of the fields beyond." See Note 8, 
Act. II. The "plains beyond" refer to the Plains of Abraham, 
on which the battle of 1759 was fought. 

10. " W/to is this De Caen?" Champlain must have known 
something of De Caen from the letters which Guers had brought 
him. Guillaume de Caen, the uncle, was a Huguenot merchant 
of Dieppe, and his nephew, Emery de Caen, had been a Huguenot 
naval captain of Rouen before he set out to supervise his uncle's 
affairs in Canada. Of the company they formed, there were two 
members Parisians, one a merchant from St. Malo, and one or 
two others. The company was really in the hands of the two 
De Caens. 

11. "And give you nothing for't." That was the actual 
demand of the De Caens, namely, that the Habitation and the 
stock of peltries the old company had in store there, should be 
delivered up to them without return of any kind. 

12. " With me he's final arbiter." The trading companies had 
to receive warrant from the king, and Champlain was within 
his rights to refuse the demands of De Caen. 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 255 

13. " Toujours Bcaiichassc." As has been said in Note g, the 
name of Beauchasse, at this stage of the play, stands for a 
principle — the principle of trading greed and selfish action. 

14. " When promises of arms arc all he sends." The inventory, 
prepared at the date of the surrender of Quebec to the Kirkes, 
proves how poorly Champlain was provided with the means for 
upholding his authority. He was provided with some arms, but 
these were so far out of date that it was all but an insult to 
provide him with such. 

15. "As did these Jienchermen of ours." The servitors and 
workmen of the Recollets had no doubt taken part in the 
turmoil over the Beauchasse affair. 

16. " TJie sun's filicides." Filleulc is the French for god-child. 

17. "As claimed tliese supercargoes." These were three clerks 
of the old company who had brought the latest news from France 
concerning the protest which that company had entered against 
the interference with its monopoly rights, and who were allowed 
to proceed to the annual rendezvous at Three Rivers to sell 
their merchandise, in face of the perturbation over the trade 
rivalry between the old company and the De Caens. They 
assured Champlain that there was no need for any inimical 
attitude towards either company while the matter was still 
under discussion by the Imperial Council. 

18. "He zvill be here with Father George." Father George 
and M. Guers had been commissioned by Champlain to give 
Pontgrave welcome as soon as he had landed, and to conduct 
him to the Habitation. 

19. " Ay, armed to tnictilence." The De Caens had come out 
with two or three large vessels. Pontgrave had command of the 
Salamande, a vessel of 150 tons, having on board sixty-five men. 
Champlain could only muster a crew of thirty all told, while 
some of these were at Tadousac. The balance of naval force 
was therefore in the hands of the De Caens, unless Champlain 



256 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

took sides with Pontgrave, and even then there was little chance 
of resisting the new company with success. 

20. " Your Company's rights are forfeit to tlic king." The 
plea entered by the De Caens was to the effect that the old 
company had betrayed their trust in failing to earry out the 
terms of their contract in the matter of bringing out new settlers 
to the colony. If the Admiralty of France had really refused 
clearance papers to Pontgraye, as it was claimed it had, then 
was Champlain's view of the case a sound one, and Pontgrave 
could only plead his ignorance of the law by way of defence. 
The latter assured Champlain, moreover, that, if the decision 
of the Council went against the old company, he was willing 
to give up his vessel to the De Caens. With that view before 
him, Champlain was further justified in pleading for delay until 
the Council had been heard from. 

21. " To flirt with secrecies." De Caen was thus far from 
being candid as was his nephew afterwards traitorous towards 
the governor in nearly all his dealings with him. A noted 
example of such conduct was to be seen in the return which 
the latter made to Champlain's courtesy in leaving the trader 
in charge of the governorship during his own absence in France. 
The reply the nephew made to him on his return was as disin- 
genuous as the uncle's in the above instance. See Note 34. 

22. " Tzvice has he turned the edge of our complacency." 
Champlain's conduct towards the De Caens was throughout one 
of gentlemanly circumspection. To De Caen's first invitation, he 
sent Captain Dumay to inform him how matters stood. On the 
second invitation, Champlain still refused to go to Tadousac, 
though he was assured that the king had given both companies 
permission to trade during the year on equal terms, the distinct 
understanding being that no vessel was to sail to New France 
without the proper clearance papers. Pontgrave, in ignorance 
or defiance of the last proviso, had failed to secure the necessary 
clearance papers ; and there the matter rested for the moment. 
At this juncture Champlain sent Father George to Tadousac 
to remonstrate with the De Caens ; and when Father George 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 257 

returned to say that the De Caens had made up their minds to 
seize Pontgrave's vessel, Champlain borrowed a boat from the 
latter, having none of his own, and went to meet the uncle and 
nephew, as is represented in Scene 6, Act III. 

23. "And I zi'ill take command of it." This offer of Cham- 
plain is historic. The De Caens had three vessels of their own, 
manned by crews of 150 men, any one of which was competent 
for the service to which the Huguenot traders said they were 
going to put the Salainaiidc, namely, the hunting down of the 
peltry poachers. 

24. " PVith Huguenot and Jesuit inftamed." There was strife 
on board ship and on shore between the Huguenots and the 
Catholics of the colony; at one time arising from envy on the 
part of the latter that the Huguenots should be privileged to 
worship after their own fashion in the cabin while the Catholics 
had to be content with the fore-castle. A like envy was to be 
seen on shore, when the De Caen company turned their backs 
upon the Jesuits on their first arrival at Quebec, and were 
otherwise found discriminating in favour of the settlers of their 
own faith. Indeed, so violent was the friction at times that the 
Duke of Montmorency is said to have been glad to surrender 
the viceroyalty to his nephew, in order to get rid of the worry 
of having to deal with the too frequent contradictory reports 
sent home over the denominational unrest. 

25. "At the gate ajar." The Roman Catholic missionaries 
found the Indians ready converts to their religion, whereas the 
Huguenot forms of worship failed to attract them. The martyr- 
dom of the Jesuit missionaries arose from antipathies other than 
religious, Champlain's impulse of taking sides against the 
Iroquois having given rise to a spreading racial resentment 
against the white man. 

26. "Memorials ivc scud." -Champlain's frequent trips to 
France had much to do with these memorials. One of the most 
pressing of them has been referred to elsewhere. The document 
was drawn up at the first public meeting ever held in Quebec, 



25-3 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

and has for its preamble the following : " The Sieur de Cham- 
plain and all the principal inhabitants of Canada, desirous of 
finding some relief from the confusion which distracts the 
colony, hereby depute the Rev. Father George to make to his 
Majesty their humble remonstrances, trusting to his well-known 
prudence to do in their behalf whatever he may consider to be 
most conducive to the welfare and advancement of the colony." 

27. " Were but an instinct in me." It has often been a sur- 
prise that so many of the farm-steadings in America are desti- 
tute of shade trees. The succeeding generations are not so loath 
to have trees about their residences as were the early settlers. 
Could it have been an acquired instinct of antipathy, such as 
Hebert refers to in himself, that lay at the origin of this habit 
of hewing down wherever there was an3^thing to be hewn down 
in the shape of a tree? 

28. " Their welcome lias been wintry." See Note 24. The 
Jesuits arrived at Quebec in the spring of 1625. Fifteen years 
before this they had found their way to Acadia at the expense 
of Madame de Guercheville. The Recollets had been told that 
the Jesuits, when they did get to Quebec, would hardly rest until 
the Recollet Order had been driven from the country. Yet the 
Recollets were the first to extend a hand of welcome to the sons 
of Loyala and to provide them with shelter out at their own 
monastery, until a first Jesuit House had been erected for the 
accommodation of the newcomers. Although these had come 
out with De Caen himself, no preparation was made by the 
Huguenot monopolist to provide them with interim quarters, 
nor was there any movement on the part of the people to give 
them a proper welcome. 

29. "Louis Sainte-Foye has been baptised a prince." This 
was a romance of New France played out in the circles of high 
life in France, probably to enhance the renown of the king's 
realm beyond the seas. The hero of the romance was an Indian 
boy, who had been brought up for a time by the Recollets, but 
who finally fell into the hands of the Jesuits, to be taken home 
by them to France on exhibition. The lad was passed off by 
them as a Huron prince to the purple born, until at last the 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 259 

eyes of the whole kingdom was attracted towards the dusky 
youth, when he came to be baptized with great ceremony in 
Rouen Cathedral, having for his god-parents the Duke of 
Longueville and Madame de Villars, and for a name Louis de 
Sainte-Foye. 

30. " This Ventadour was once a priest." The statement is 
historic, the holy order of priesthood having been bestowed 
upon him when his course as a student under the Jesuits had 
been completed. He is represented as being a much more 
pious man than his uncle, Montmorency, whom he succeeded, 
but a much less able administrator. 

31. " The companies are one." The news was carried to Cham- 
plain by Sauteih, a representative of the De Caens, in the sum- 
mer of 1622. As head of the consolidated company, De Caen, 
the uncle, paid a visit to Canada in 1625, and on his return it 
was suggested that he take over the liabilities of the Ventadour 
Company on the understanding that he would pay twenty thous- 
and livres per annum to the shareholders. An accusation having 
been made against him for encouraging the propagation of the 
Huguenot faith, which he was able to rebut, the government 
thought it would be as well for him to appoint a good Catholic as 
chief commander over his fleet. This being done, the De Caens 
virtually became the trading company of New France, opposed in 
policy and sympathy, as they were, to Champlain. 

32. " He stole the ship of Pontgrave." This statement has a 
poetic license about it. The facts are that De Caen seized the 
Salaniandc while Champlain had withdrawn from his truculency 
on an exploring expedition up the Saguenay. On Champlain's 
return De Caen gave up the ship, claiming that it was useless for 
his purpose; and then, at the point of the sword, demanded a pay- 
ment of seventeen hundred beaver skins on a trumped-up claim 
against the old company. 

Z2)- " Something has happened." It is not easy even to sur- 
mise why there has been so little said about Madame de Cham- 
plain's residence in Canada by the religious historiographers of 



26o NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

her time. She was of Huguenot descent, and it is impossible 
to say why she proposed to retire to a convent after her return 
from Canada in 1624. There is a mystery about the matter 
which the reader will have to solve as best he may in the light 
which Dr. James Douglas has thrown on the subject. " Cham- 
plain," says that painstaking author, in his details, " left a will 
by which he bequeathed to the church he had founded in Quebec 
all his personal effects in Canada. But when he married Helene 
Boulle, there was a marriage contract by which husband and 
wife mutually bequeathed, each to the other, whatever they 
might die possessed of. His wife consented to the will, but his 
cousin objected to it, on the ground that it contradicted the 
marriage contract. The will was set aside. His widow survived 
him nineteen years in the retreat of her own nunnery. Previous 
to his death the laws of the Church denied her the gratification 
of taking the veil, unless her husband would also renounce his 
marriage vows and adopt a religious life. This the old sailor 
and busy man of the world declined to do, looking upon his 
work as more valuable to his country and more pleasing to God 
than would have been the donning of a clerical or monastic 
habit." 

34. " This fort was built to be rebuilt." Emery de Caen 
had neglected the instructions of Champlain concerning the 
erection of the Fort St Louis ; and, even when Champlain had 
turned his attention to the building of it, a heavy wind one 
night robbed it of its roof, and one Sunday afternoon its towers 
fell down from their foundations upward. The priests and people 
were inclined to look upon the collapse as a judgment, while 
Champlain, saying little, proceeded to re-build his house one 
story in height instead of two. 

35. " Near the shades of Cap Tourmentc." The parish of St. 
Joachim is still noted for its fertility. It is still the seat of 
the " Priests' Farm." This was the first place to suffer surprise 
at the hands of the Kirkes, a full season before any demand 
was made for the surrender of Quebec. The farm buildings 
were burned and forty head of cattle wantonly killed, the pur- 
pose being, no doubt, to cut off Champlain from his farm lands 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 261 

and a supply of fresh meat. None of the farm hands were 
killed or wounded, the purpose evidently only being to let famine 
run its course to the weakening of the fortified hamlet thirty 
miles away. 

36. " De Roquemont knezv it." But for the encounter between 
De Roquemont and Kirke's ships, relief might have reached 
Quebec. On the French vessels there were ample supplies, and 
a number of new settlers with their wives and children, together 
with two Recollets and two Jesuits. These ships formed a first 
contingent sent out to Canada under the auspices of the Com- 
pany of the Hundred Associates lately organized by Cardinal 
Richelieu. De Roquemont knew of the straits of Champlain ; 
and yet, being attacked by Kirke, found himself helpless to 
reach Quebec. Kirke's fleet was lying at Tadousac when De 
Roquemont appeared upon the scene. The latter had heard of 
the English from some Indians at Gaspe, and sent out a boat 
with ten of his men under Captain Thierry Desdames to recon- 
noitre the position of the enemy. Desdames barely escaped to 
reach Quebec, and the tidings which he carried to Champlain 
were dismal enough. From the roaring of the cannon he had 
been made aware of an engagement between the English and 
the French vessels which had lasted the greater part of a day; 
and, since De Roquemont had not turned up, it was all but con- 
clusive that he had been defeated by Kirke. This was what had 
really taken place ; and, De Roquemont's ships all having been 
burned or taken captive by the English fleet, Kirke decided to 
leave the capture of Quebec as a future venture. What with 
Desdames' report, and a letter which he brought from Father 
Lalemant, the Jesuit, to Champlain, the colony at Quebec had 
to piece out the story of De Roquemont's defeat as best it 
could, with no further news coming to it for a whole season. 
And soon word was brought from the farmlands of Cap Tour- 
mente that no provisions could be looked for from that region — 
the buildings there having been demolished and the cattle having 
been burned or removed — to help tide over another winter. It 
was not until after Quebec had fallen into the hands of the 
English that the De Caens made an effort to relieve the starv- 
ing population up at Cape Diamond. The relief vessel sent out 



262 NOTES ON THE DRAMA 

by them was captured by the Kirkes, the news being exchanged 
that Quebec had been captured shortly after peace had been 
restored between England and France. 

37. " But for that boat." In order to reduce the number of 
mouths demanding food in his famished community, Champlain 
conceived the idea of sending a boat-load of the villagers on a 
voyage down the river, in the hope that some vessel might be 
encountered to take them to France. There were two difficul- 
ties in his way. There was no boat in the place, and outside of 
Pontgrave, all crippled with the gout, there was no sailor com- 
petent to take such a craft down as far as Tadousac, far less 
out into the gulf or across the ocean. The De Caens' head 
officer, De Ralde, had cruelly neglected to send back the last 
schooner of the season with or without provisions from Tadousac 
before winter came. To overcome the lack of a vessel, it was 
decided that Le Coquin should be built, or re-built, with the pros- 
pect of Pontgrave being well enough to take command when 
once it was ready to be launched in the spring. The building of 
the boat was an object of the greatest interest to the fam- 
ishing Quebecers, Couillard busying himself in getting it 
water-tight by means of his improvised oakum and pine resin. 
When the harbour was free of ice, Pontgrave was induced to 
give his consent to take command of this, the first vessel ever 
built in Quebec — the forerunner of the thousands built on the 
St. Lawrence since its day. Just before sailing, however, there 
arose a question of etiquette connected with the mariner's com- 
mission as representative of the De Caens and the governor's 
commission as representative of the king. The difference of 
opinion ended in Pontgrave being ofifended, for the first time 
in his life, with his friend; and the sailing of Le Coquin had to 
take place under the command of Eustache Boulle, Champlain's 
brother-in-law. As has been said elsewhere, the vessel, for- 
tunatety for its occupants, was captured by one of Kirke's ships 
out in the gulf. 

38. "A sack or two the brave Brebeuf secured." Many were 
the suggestions made whereby provisions might be secured from 
the Indians, even to the plan of sending out one tribe near at 



NOTES ON THE DRAMA 263 

hand to raid some village in the distance, or to barter with 
some tribe inimical to the Iroquois the French prestige in arms 
for grain. Three Indians brought in some venison one day, 
but the supply was far from equal to the demand. The 
Abenakis' price for maize, of which they seemed to have an 
overplus was extortionate, as were also the charges of the 
Indian eel fishermen. The Huron hunters on their way down 
the river to attend the annual fair were intercepted by Father 
Brebeuf and a band of Quebecers, with the goods in hand for 
food stuffs instead of for peltries ; but these travellers had with 
them only provisions to last them on the trip. 

39. " The cruel, zvicked ships." The children were not 
expected to understand what the coming of these ships meant, 
carrying with them to Champlain only the alarm in their man- 
ner they had borrowed from the alarm of the others. 

40. " What said they of the peace?" It is doubtful whether 
they knew for a certainty that peace had been proclaimed. See 
Note 36. 

41. " By these our terms." The terms were by no means harsh 
except in the case of the Indian children, Hope and Charity. 
The settlers were allowed to remain in the country if they chose 
to refuse passage to England. All private property, in beaver 
skins or in other form, was to be immune from confiscation ; 
while provisions were to be distributed free to the poor, fam- 
ishing colonists. No complaint can be raised against the Kirkes 
on the score of their humanity. 

42. " An Indian zvar zvould issue be." This surmise was 
uttered by the traitorous Nicholas Marsolet, who had been 
Champlain's interpreter, and was one of the captured company 
on board Le Coquin. 



V 



Samuel de Champlain 

The Explorer 



Samuel de Champlain, the Explorer 



The dates 1908 and 1909 mark the tercentenary of 
events which the peoples of the North American con- 
tinent are never Hkely to overlook as memorable in 
the history of the New World, however such occur- 
rences may be recognized elsewhere as minor, comple- 
mentary issues to the greater events of European his- 
tory. The former date has been taken advantage of by 
Canadians to celebrate the earliest beginnings oi their 
country, while the latter has been selected by the people 
of the United States as a fitting time to recall in their 
rejoicings the exploration of the Lake Champlain region 
by the founder of Quebec. The one may, indeed, be 
taken as a memorable time-mark in the career of Cham- 
plain as a colonizer ; the other of Champlain's acumen 
and assiduity as an explorer. 

Nor is it out of place, as far as the interest of the 
reader is concerned, for one to follow the record of 
Champlain's explorations in a narrative by itself, apart 
from his career as a colonizing agent and first governor 
of Canada. The introduction and biographical note 
attached to the preceding drama gives a condensed 
account of Champlain's career as a governor ; and, in 
what follows, the attempt is made to edit the details of 
his explorations, which have come down to us from the 
pen of the explorer himself and others, with due respect 

267 



268 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

to the unities of narration, as well as for the convenience 
of the reader who would learn, in a story by itself, 
of Champlain's romantic intrepidity in exploring the 
streams and lakes and watersheds of the great valley of 
the St. Lawrence. 

Champlain, when once his soldiering days were over, 
entered upon his apprenticeship as an explorer in a 
voyage, extending over thirty months, to the West Indies, 
and in a vessel of the Spanish marine under command 
of Don Francisco Colombo. The record he himself has 
left of his sojournings on the islands of the Spanish 
Main, and within the towns and villages of Central 
America, indicates how well he could keep his gifts of 
observation in constant exercise, illustrated, as his manu- 
scripts were, with all manner of non-artistic drawings 
of what he had seen and heard tell of during the voyage. 
In one of these manuscripts he tells us how he visited 
Vera Cruz and Mexico and Panama, and ventures a pro- 
phetic note in his suggestion that a canal should be built 
across the isthmus as a water-link between the Atlantic 
and Pacific. And no one can miss being interested in 
his record of experiences during the voyage, undertaken 
at the suggestion, it is said, of his uncle, who would 
have the French king informed directly of the marvels 
of the trans-Atlantic possessions of his neighbour, the 
king of Spain, as an incentive, possibly, to the former to 
seek out trans-Atlantic possessions of his own. The 
story which Champlain had to tell on his return to Paris 
made a deep impression on the gossips of the Louvre ; 
and when old Aymar de Chaste, governor of Dieppe, 
and the personal friend of the king, went to court to 
secure a charter for the colonization of New France — 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 269 

being imbued with the notion that he had a call from 
heaven to dedicate the rest of his days to the service of 
God and his king, he was not slow to find in Champlain 
the man to help him out with his plans of making as 
much of Canada for France as the Spaniards had made 
of the West Indies for Spain. The habit of the ex- 
plorer, engendered in Champlain by his trip to the Indies, 
was naturally enough inflamed by the enthusiasm of De 
Chaste, who was prepared to meet all the expenses of 
a voyage up the St. Lawrence in search of a site for a 
first colony, as it was further assured by the profifered 
services of a certain Frangois Pontgrave, who had 
already been in Canada under the auspices of Chauvin 
and certain other traders. Every incentive was at hand 
to give such a habit within him further development ; 
and in 1603 two little vessels set sail from Harfleur, to 
follow the course Jacques Cartier had taken when he 
prepared the way for Roberval's first attempt at colon- 
izing Cap Rouge. 

On this voyage Pontgrave was in command as navi- 
gator, Champlain as historiographer. Their mission did 
not preclude them from doing some trading with the 
Indians to meet the expenses of the voyage ; and, when 
they reached Tadousac, Pontgrave, who was known to 
the Indians of the place, made arrangements with them 
to have a cargo of furs ready when he and Champlain 
returned from the upper reaches of the river. As soon 
as the explorers had cast anchor in presence of the rock 
of Quebec, Champlain set out to hunt up traces of 
Jacques Cartier's stay in Canada ; but all he was able 
to find were the ruins of a chimney out near the mud 
banks of the little Lairet, where Cartier had wintered. 
18 



270 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

There was no trace, on the site of what is now called the 
upper town of Quebec, of the Iroquois village of Stada- 
cona, there being only a few straggling Algonquin wig- 
wams around the site. Even the name Stadacona had 
been supplanted by that of Quebec, or the " narrows," 
which may be taken as conclusive evidence that the 
Algonquins had worsted' their enemy, the Iroquois, in 
war, or, to be unmolested, had made a retreat from their 
settlements further up the river to a place of greater 
safety. Nor were there traces, anything more definite, 
of the Roberval colony at Cap Rouge to be taken note 
of by Ohamplain, who inaccurately tells us that Roberval 
and Cartier built for themselves a house on the Island 
of Orleans, where they lived together until Roberval 
was recalled to France by his Majesty for other service, 
very much as if he had not known of the ill-fated colony 
of Charlesbourg Royal. 

When the expedition reached Mount Royal, there 
again Champlain found no trace of the Hochelaga of 
Cartier's time, being inclined to think for the moment 
that no such place had ever existed. Here again there 
had been a complete change of residents, the Algonquins 
evidently having been left for the time being in peaceful 
possession of the territory around by the Iroquois and 
their allies to the south. Hiring some of these resident 
Algonquins, Champlain made an attempt to pass the 
rapids above Montreal ; but, failing to overcome the 
force of the Lachine Rapids, he had to content himself 
with hearsay accounts of the country beyond, with the 
ambition of the explorer inflamed, perhaps, all the more 
from his course being interrupted. On returning to 
Tadousac, Pontgrave found his cargo of furs awaiting 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 271 

him, though on reaching Harfleur the two of them heard 
with sadness of the sudden death of their patron, Sieur 
De Chaste. 

Champlain's second voyage to North America was 
made in connection with the De Monts' project for the 
colonization of Acadia. His survey of the shores of the 
Bay of Fundy and the coast of Maine is historically 
linked with the attempts at settlement on the island at 
the mouth of the St. Croix and at Port Royal on the 
Annapolis Basin ; and the story of these attempts need 
not be narrated in this record of the explorer, any more 
than the story of the founding of Quebec. From the 
rude drawings of Champlain we learn the details of the 
Habitation de St. Croix and the Habitation de Port 
Royale, as we learn of the Habitation de Quebec. He 
was the person on whom De Monts and Poutrincourt 
depended to discover for them the more eligible spots 
for settlement in the vicinity of the Bay of Fundy. 
Even while the buildings of the St. Croix settlement 
were being erected, the spirit of the explorer was flushed 
with the expectation of locating new territory to the 
south, and, before his companions were called upon to 
contend with their first winter in America, he had made 
an excursion in his pinnace along the Maine coast 
towards Mount Desert and the mouth of the Penobscot 
River. This was but the prelude to his longer voyage 
in a bark of fifteen tons as far south as Cape Cod, an 
event which cannot but add interest to the New 
England tercentennial celebrations of 1909. The places 
visited included the lands around the mouths of 
the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Saco, and Portsmouth 
Harbour, with few of the larger indentations left unsur- 



272 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

veyed by the industrious Champlain, who seemed to care 
for nothing better than to get ashore to investigate the 
flora and fauna, and to make these strange, rough draw- 
ings of his of the unusual specimens that came in his 
way. The Indians who had their villages near the shore 
drew their living from the cultivation of the soil ; and 
were, for the most part, peaceable in their reception of 
the company of explorers. Yet De Monts, who had per- 
sonally accompanied Champlain, saw no place more 
attractive for colonization, as he thought, than the dismal 
St. Croix ; and, having made up his mind to venture 
on no second winter's experience in any place that gave 
promise of no improvement, he returned to Passama- 
quoddy Bay. Giving orders to remove his colony to 
Port Royal, he there left Pontgrave, Champlain and 
others to test another winter, while he himself faced the 
members of his company in France, who were growling 
against the expense of an enterprise that gave no 
promise of immediate returns. 

Champlain's third voyage of discovery was made 
from Port Royal in company with Poutrincourt, who 
had come out from France to take charge of affairs in 
Acadia, with Lescarbot, the poet, as his second in com- 
mand. This expedition followed the course of the pre- 
vious one, but resulted in no rearrangement for the 
location of a French settlement further to the south than 
the Bay of Fundy. The explorers again reached Cape 
Cod, and landed in the vicinity of Hyamis, on the coast 
of Massachusetts. At Chatham Harbour some of their 
associates met with inhospitable treatment at the hands 
of the natives, which culminated in the death of two 
of the Frenchmen. Then the weather became unpro- 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 273 

pitious; and, with nothing but further hardship, if not 
danger, before them, they sped northward to Port Royal, 
where Lescarbot awaited them with a hospitaUty that 
Hfted from them the cloud of disappointment and made 
them feel at home. The story of their return, as told 
by " the merry Marc Lescarbot," is a bit of Canadian 
literature which no Canadian should miss reading. " I 
will not compare their perils with those of Ulysses," he 
says, in his delicious ironical way, " nor yet of ^neas, 
lest thereby I should sully our holy enterprise with things 
impure." 

Champlain's journeymanship as an explorer was thor- 
oughly tested, by his experience in Acadian waters. He 
was now fully prepared for his labours as such on the 
waterways of the St. Lawrence. In the spring follow- 
ing his last visit to Cape Cod, while everything began 
to wear a propitious look for the permanence of Port 
Royal as a French settlement, tidings came that De 
Monts had been bereft of his charter. Lescarbot was 
the first to leave. Champlain and Povitrincourt lingered 
during the early summer months to watch the results of 
their agricultural operations. In August these, however, 
also left in an open boat to join Lescarbot at Canso, 
from which port the three of them sailed for France, 
arriving in the roadstead of St. Malo in October, 1607. 

Next year a new arrangement was brought about, 
whereby Poutrincourt was to give his attention to Port 
Royal, while De Monts turned his solely to the exploita- 
tion of the St. Lawrence as a place of settlement, and 
to the development of the fur trade as a profit-bearing 
monopoly. The scheme of opening up the St. Lawrence 
country was of Champlain's planning, and its issue is to 



274 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

be found on record elsewhere in this volume. There 
were two ships fitted out for this new enterprise, Pont- 
grave having charge of the one for trading purposes, 
and Champlain the other in the interests of colonization 
and exploration. It was thought that the profits from 
the fur trade would more than meet the expense con- 
nected with the latter. 

A first winter's experience at Quebec, which left but 
eight men alive out of a. company of twenty-eight, did 
not impair the spirit of the explorer in Champlain the 
colonizer. In the spring following, as soon as he learned 
of Pontgrave's arrival at Tadousac, he hastened to meet 
him, with the proposal that the mariner should look 
after affairs at Quebec for a month or so, and thus set 
him free to explore the inland waters of the St. Law- 
rence. He had learned of the enmity between the tribes 
around Quebec and the Iroquois or Five Confederate 
Nations, whose territory was to be reached by way of 
the Richelieu and the lake to the south which it drained. 
Indeed, he has been accused of having acted unwisely in 
identifying himself with that tribal enmity ; though how 
he could have carried on his explorations of the country 
beyond Quebec without enlisting the friendship of the 
Indian tribes at peace with one another by making their 
cause his own, it is not easy to make out. Possibly he 
might at first have turned his attention to the exploring 
of the Ottawa and the region of the great lakes, the 
Algonquin and Huron tribes of these regions being at 
peace with one another when he located himself at 
Quebec. But there would have been no quid pro quo 
for these latter tribes in such an undertaking, but rather 
the introduction of a second rivalry, which might even- 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 275 

tually take part with their enemies to the south, to their 
own undoing. The arrival of the white man in the 
country was, in the eyes of the northern tribes, a means 
to an end, and that end was the undoing of their enemies 
whose excursions were as those of a thief in the night — 
sudden and remorseless. Otherwise the white man 
could be no other than the enemy of the red man. And 
all the suggestions that have been advanced to identify 
Champlain's action in taking to the war trail with the 
tribes nearest Quebec against those more remote, as a 
mistake attended by the ruinous results of pitting Indian 
tribe against Indian tribe and finally fomenting a racial 
quarrel between the colonists of New France and the 
colonists of New England, — all the arguments pro and 
con have in them nothing substantial save the necessity 
of the situation which pressed upon the explorer who 
would leave his little colony in friendly alliance with its 
next-door neighbours while he was on his way into the 
interior to find out all there was to learn about the coun- 
try. His impulse was no other than one for the safe- 
keeping of his colony and the promotion of his plans 
'"'f exploration. 

Before a start was made there was the usual pow- 
wowing around Quebec, with the three tribes of the 
Hurons, Algonquins, and the Montagnais taking part 
in the festivities. When all was ready, Champlain took 
with him thirteen of his countrymen, who were each 
provided with firearms ; while, following in the wake of 
his sail-boat, went the birch-bark canoes of his Indian 
allies. In accordance with the advice of the chief of 
the party, the first objective point of the flotilla was the 
mouth of the Riviere des Iroquois, as Champlain called 



276 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

it, but which has since borne the several names of the 
St. John, the St. Louis, the Chambly, the Sorel, and the 
RicheHeu. And when the explorer reached the flat area 
on which the town of Sorel now stands he had his first 
serious experience with the childish waywardness of his 
guides, three-fourths of whom, without warning, betook 
themselves to their canoes and passed up the St. Law- 
rence towards their homes on the Ottawa and the great 
lakes. 

Nothing daunted, Champlain proceeded up the Riche- 
lieu with the remnant of his allies, his sail-boat outrun- 
ning their canoes where the channel was deep and broad. 
No word had been said by the Indians of the interrupting 
rapids, and, when the first cascade prevented the pin- 
nace from going further, Champlain with seven of his 
men took to the woods to make a portage for them- 
selves, but were only forced to return with a charge on 
their lips against their dusky allies in this second act 
of their duplicity. Still even then Champlain was not 
driven from his purpose of exploring the lake stretches 
which were said to be beyond the rapids ; and, having 
ordered all the Frenchmen back to Quebec, saving two 
who remained with him to take passage with the Indians 
in their canoes, he set out along the banks of the river. 
All told, there were twenty-four canoes to shoulder 
across the portage ; and, when the number of the war- 
riors was counted as they took to the calm waters above 
the rapids near where the town of St. Johns now stands, 
Champlain found himself in command of only sixty 
Indians and two of his own countrymen. To those who 
have made this trip in more modern times, the account 
given by the explorer of the marvels of the route is full 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 277 

of interest. The story of progress is there written as 
an intedinear tale to what the country must have looked 
like when the intrepid European first cast his eyes on its 
embankments of forest lands, marshy meadows, and 
benighted islands. Hamlets, villages, and towns are 
now strung on the banks of the majestic stream as on 
a necklace, each with its respective name that savours 
now of geographical and historic interest to every Cana- 
dian. When Champlain saw it, it lay as a great un- 
inhabited region, with traces of game in evidence, and 
not without the suspicion of a lurking, advancing foe 
in its glades, as he proceeded on his way to meet his 
enemies on the warpath. St. Ours, St. Denis, St. 
Hilaire, Beloeil, Chambly, St. John's, Iberville, and 
Lacolle, and the Canadian towns east and west of them 
cannot well overlook the event of the very first opening 
up of this region by Samuel de Champlain, no more than 
can the towns and villages bordering on the lake which 
bears his name, and including such important, populous 
centres as Plattsburg and Elizabethtown, in the State 
or New York, and St. Albans and Burlington, in the 
State of Vermont. Indeed, Champlain's explorations 
along the coast line of the New England States, and his 
early examination of what was long the inland water 
route between the St. Lawrence and the Hudson, makes 
it fitting that his intrepidity should be held in commem- 
oration by the peoples on both sides of the line. Francis 
Parkman, the historian, has given a description of the 
explorer's itinerary to the headwaters of the lake which 
cannot be surpassed as a literary feat. His details are 
fascinating to the tourist making a like itinerary ; and, 
when he tells us, in his own way, and not in Champlain's, 



278 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

we marvel how a man in his study could see so vividly 
what another had seen in actual fact, from the preparing 
of the bivouac for the night to the incantations of that 
important humbug in an Indian camp, the medicine-man. 
He brings us right on to the spot when he tells us how 
" great islands appeared, leagues in extent : Isle a la 
Motte, Long Island, Grande Isle. Channels where ships 
might float and broad reaches of expanding water 
stretched between them. . . . Cumberland Head was 
passed, and from the opening of the great channel 
between Grande Isle and the main, Champlain could look 
forth on the wilderness sea. Edged with woods, the 
tranquil flood spread southward beyond the sight. Far 
on the left, the forest ridges of the Green Mountains 
were heaved against the sun, patches of snow still glis- 
tening on their tops ; and on the right rose the Adiron- 
dacks, haunts in these later years of amateur sportsmen 
from counting-rooms or college halls, nay, of adventurous 
beauty, with sketch-book and pencil. Then the Iroquois 
made them their hunting-ground ; and beyond, in the 
valleys of the Mohawk, the Onondaga, and the Genesee, 
stretched the long line of their five cantons and pali- 
saded towns." 

Champlain has left us a drawing of the meeting-place 
of the antagonistic tribes within the narrows between 
the greater lake and the lesser, with the edge of the lake 
shore in the foreground, and the rival canoes tied 
together as if they were two bunches of cucumbers. 
The explorer himself is represented as standing some- 
what perilously between the two companies of savages, 
amid interwhizzing showers of arrows from the contes- 
tants.. These contestants are represented as being 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 279 

arrayed in the robes of the Garden of Eden, while one 
set of them seem to have escaped from a circular barri- 
cade that resembles a reindeer enclosure on an Icelandic 
farm, with the toy trees of a child's Noah's Ark for a 
background. It is all very funny. But it helps us in 
memorizing the story of the encounter all the same. 

Anybody who has passed over the Delaware and 
Hudson Railway in daytime knows where the little sta- 
tion of Crown Point overlooks the narrows, immediately 
north of Ticonderoga or Carillon. The most of us are 
acquainted with the spot as historic ground when the 
French and English were contending to possess the 
important inland waterway. It was somewhere on these 
few miles of narrows that Champlain had to suspend 
his function as explorer to take up the role of warrior. 
Late in the evening, before the bivouac beds of the 
savages had been made down, a flotilla of Iroquois 
canoes was detected by Champlain and his allies moving 
slowly up the channel. As soon as an interchange of 
warwhoops made a surety of inimical recognition, the 
Iroquois made for the shore to await daylight behind 
a hurriedly raised barricade, which, as has been said, 
Champlain so quaintly illustrates as a kind of sheep-pen 
or reindeer enclosure. The tribesmen from the St. 
Lawrence kept to their canoes, after having moored 
them to a common pole. The din at a modern lacrosse 
match, with a like exchange of compliments, filled the 
air during the greater part of the night, when once it was 
agreed that there should be no fighting till next day. 
Nor was it till dawn that the three Frenchmen put on 
their armour. Champlain's art has proved impotent to 
give us a notion of what the armour of the Indians was, 



28o CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

though there is every reason to suppose that the Iroquois 
had both bucklers and breastplates with them, as the 
Hurons had shields and leggings made of twigs inter- 
woven with cords. The Iroquois demanded a champion 
from the ranks of the Hurons ; and Champlain, in his 
European paraphernalia of steel breastplate, helmet and 
greaves, with sword by his side, ammunition box slung 
over his shoulder, and arquebuse in hand, stepped sev- 
eral paces in front of his allies. Then he levelled his 
arquebuse and sent its four balls whizzing all unseen 
among the Iroquois warriors, who resolutely replied 
with a shower of arrows, even after they saw two of 
their chiefs brought to the ground. But when additional 
gunshots came from the woods where the two otheri 
Frenchmen were ensconced, the deadly marvel of the 
arquebuse sent them flying in all directions. When all 
was over, Champlain's allies raised their yells in honour 
of the white men ; and, when night came on, they pro- 
ceeded to refresh their savage spirits by torturing one 
of their prisoners, retaining the others for their delecta- 
tion on their way back and at home. In a few days 
they all arrived at the mouth of the Richelieu, where 
the Hurons departed for the Ottawa, on the understand- 
ing that the white men would visit them in their settle- 
ments, and take part with them in a general incursion 
towards the Iroquois country south of the great lakes. 

On Champlain's return to Quebec, and thence to 
France, to make, among other things, a present to the 
king of the head and arms of the Iroquois chief, which 
had been bestowed upon him as a riiemento of his renown 
by his Algonquin friends, it could not but recur to him 
that what had been at first a mere impulse of self-pro- 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 281 

tection and convenience was likely to lead to serious 
complications among the aboriginal tribes of the country 
he had made up his mind to colonize. He could not but 
have noticed the superiority of the Iroquois warriors in 
that first encounter with them on the narrows between 
Lake Champlain and Lake George. The Plymouth 
Fathers had heard of their prowess around the head- 
waters of the Hudson and in the territory of what is 
now known as the State of New York. If the European 
colonizer to the south should be seized with the impulse 
of self-protection which had seized the European col- 
onizer of the north, there was but one issue from such 
an impulse, and history now tells us what that bloody 
issue was. And yet all we have now to blame — if the 
mere locating of blame be our purpose — is the evolution 
itself, with its alliances and wars and its breeding of 
racial antipathies as ethical activities making for prog- 
ress. Champlain's very natural impulse to protect him- 
self and his colony can only be taken by us as the start- 
ing-point of the evolution which had to come — and in 
the way such an evolution generally does come — if 
North America was ever to be prepared as a fit abode 
for a civilized population. The pity is that, now the 
evolution has run its course, there should be the faintest 
suspicion that any of the old racial antipathies still 
linger, or that any one should be allowed in pulpit or 
parliament to foster the same among the unthinking. 

The evolution was soon in evidence, with a gnashing 
of teeth on the part of the Iroquois against the tribal 
allies of Champlain. There had been some pow-wowing 
between times, the Montagnais of the Tadousac region 
promising the explorer to conduct him northwards, by 



282 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

river bed and lake expansion, to the great sea, salt as 
the ocean, that was said to lie beyond the watershed of 
the St. Lawrence, and the Hurons promising to act as 
guides to him to the great fresh-water lakes where they 
had their abode. The great pow-wow of the three main 
tribes, or sub-tribes, in Canada — the Hurons, the Algon- 
quins, and the Montagnais — was to be held on what is 
now the site of Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu. 
Opposite this site is the archipelago at the head of Lake 
St. Peter, including the islands of St. Ignace, Bear 
Island, and Isle du Pas ; and while the allies were yet 
selecting a safe retreat for feasting and dancing on one 
of these islands, the report was spread that their allies 
were already in deadly conflict with the Iroquois, who 
had descended the Richelieu to seek reprisal for what 
had happened at the narrows the year before. Cham- 
plain and four other Frenchmen, with arquebuse in hand, 
hastened to the scene of conflict, and repeated the vic- 
tory gained at Crown Point, of bow-and-arrow against 
gunpowder. The Iroquois were driven back to their 
canoes, with all pursuit neglected by the allies as they 
sat down to enjoy their orgies of feasting and torture 
of their captives. Champlain and his white attendants 
sickened at the sight of the cruelties indulged in, which 
ended in actual cannibalism ; and yet, all the same, 
Champlain entered into a treaty with the wretches to 
visit them in their forest villages and to join them in 
their wars. In fact, by this time the spirit of the ex- 
plorer began to look upon the Iroquois as enemies of 
his own, making him feel that he was but doing his duty 
while helping to bring about their extermination. The 
evolution had taken possession of him as a means to 
its end. 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 283 

Champlain's exploration of the Ottawa bears the date 
of 1613. He had been back and forward to France in 
the interests of his colony nearly every year since his 
first winter in 1608. In 161 3 he published his second 
volume of travels, and in its title we read of the func- 
tion he had made his own as an explorer. It reads as 
follows (translated into English): "The Voyages- of 
Sieur de Champlain, Captain Ordinary in the Service 
of the Marine for the King, edited in two divisions ; or 
a reliable journal of observations referring to discov- 
eries in New France, including a description of the 
lands, coast-lines, rivers, bays, and harbours, together 
with their dimensions, and sundry annotations of the 
explorer, as well as an account of the peoples, their 
superstitions, manner of living and making war." After 
these three centuries the book is as interesting as it ever 
was, even to the ordinary reader, dealing, as it does, 
with information so easily verifiable by the traveller of 
to-day who has a taste for topographical identification. 
And the year in which it was published saw the author 
on his way up the Ottawa to gather more information 
for his volume of 1619. 

It has often been said that Champlain, in common 
with many of his friends and readers in France, had 
been seized with the idea that the mystery of the St. 
Lawrence would only be fully solved by the discovery 
of some waterway in the interior of the continent that 
formed a water-link between the Atlantic and the Pacific. 
The Algonquin hunters of the Ottawa had heard of 
large bodies of water beyond the sources of that river, 
while every Indian around Quebec in Champlain's time 
had heard of the great lakes adjacent to the homes of 



284 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

their kindred, the Hurons. When, therefore, Cham- 
plain took part in the attack upon the Iroquois at the 
mouth of the RicheHeu, he was eager, for more reasons 
than one, to follow up his Huron friends to their home. 
But affairs at Quebec having called him away for the 
moment, he contented himself by sending one of his 
interpreters forward with his tribal friends, to pick up 
all there was to pick up about a possible watercourse 
towards the Pacific. And during his stay among the 
Algonquins, Nicholas de Vignan, this same interpreter, 
found sufficient material out of which to spin a mar- 
vellous yarn, to be retailed among the gossips of the 
Louvre when he returned to France in 1613. Even 
Champlain, when he heard the romancer's story, was 
carried away with it, though he was cautious enough to 
have Vignan swear to the truth of it, in presence of two 
Rochellois notaries, before he apprised the Commander 
de Sillery and Marshal de Brissac of his intention to 
explore the region in question. Vignan's story was 
founded on a professed personal experience. There was 
a water-link between the two oceans. He had seen it 
with his own eyes : nay, had stood upon its shore, with 
the wreck of a European vessel in sight not far from 
where he stood. He had followed the Indians far up 
the Ottawa, had traced the source of that river to a 
lake, into which flowed another stream whose course 
had guided him to an open sea. There was no doubt 
to be entertained about the discovery, if swearing to it 
would remove all doubt. 

When Vignan had run the gauntlet of his inquisitors 
in France, Champlain returned with him to Canada. 
The dream of the latter's life was about to come true, 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 285 

as he thought, and he lost no time in entering upon his 
third exploration, which, while it failed in making good 
Vignan's tale, made known to the world the territory 
which now comprises the peninsular part of Ontario. 
Starting from Helen's Island, opposite Montreal, in two 
canoes laden with provisions, he took with him four of 
his countrymen, including Vignan, and an Indian guide, 
to traverse Lake St. Louis and reach the mouth of the 
Ottawa at the St. Anne's Rapids. 

And with Champlain's volume in hand, and a personal 
knowledge of the route he took, the reader can follow 
him with the deepest of interest across the river expan- 
sion now known as the Lake of the Two Mountains, 
up to the Carillon Rapids, where the explorer nearly 
lost his life from the overturning of his canoe, and where 
the towns of Grenville and Hawkesbury now stand, near 
the upper terminus of the Grenville Canal. The river 
has not lost all its primeval traits of woodland lone- 
someness, and at many of its turning-points it is easy 
to conceive how the scenery struck the early explorer. 
Somewhere beyond the mouth of the Du Lievre, Cham- 
plain met a flotilla of canoes, much as the steamboat of 
modern days meets an occasional raft ; and finding the 
dusky canoeists friendly disposed, he exchanged with 
them, for one of their most expert paddlers, one of his 
four Frenchmen who had proved himself somewhat awk- 
ward in the propelling of a birch-bark. 

It seems that Vignan expected that Champlain would 
venture no further than the Chaudiere Falls ; and there 
pause really had to be made when once the wall of foam- 
ing waters came in sight, if for no other purpose than 
to appease the presiding genius of the " boiling kettle " 
19 



286 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

with an offering of tobacco and sundry invocations, 
Indian fashion. Anxiously did Vignan await the order 
to return. But Champlain kept on. Past rapids and 
falls, through narrows made ominous by overhanging 
rocks, and lake-like expansions studded with islands, 
past the sites of the modern towns of Aylmer, Onslow, 
Arnprior, and Portage du Fort, they pushed their way, 
until they landed on Calumet Island and were enter- 
tained by an encampment of friendly Indians. Between 
the primitive-looking village of Bryson and Portage du 
Fort there is to be witnessed one of the wildest scenes 
on the Ottawa, the waters rushing down a narrow defile 
between the island and the mainland which keeps them 
turbulent for many a mile ; and if the little company did 
traverse the portages of this region, they were certainly 
in need of rest on the Island of Calumet, where the poor 
French hermit, Cadieux, in later days found his grave. 
As one stages it across from Portage du Fort to the 
little railway station of Haley's, on the Canadian Pacific, 
the pathway is still pointed out where Champlain's astro- 
labe was found, after it had been lost a hundred years 
and more. If the pathway be authentic, the rapids near 
Bryson must have been shunned by the exploring party, 
as Parkman tells us they were shunned, contrary to the 
advice of Vignan, who seemed anxious at every step to 
raise some insurmountable barrier in the way. The 
exact route taken from Calumet Island to Allumette 
Island is hardly now traceable on the modern map. 
Parkman tells us that the party came out on Lake Cou- 
longe, which is situated below the latter island ; and 
that after they had enjoyed the hospitality of Chief 
Nibachis and his settlement, on the same island, they 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 287 

were directed to the head of Lake Coulonge, to a settle- 
ment presided over by Chief Tessouat. The river expan- 
sion to which Parkman gives the name of Lake Cou- 
longe must therefore be taken to extend all the way 
from the modern village of Fort Coulonge to the north- 
ern end of Allumette, while the labours of portaging 
must have been begun higher up the river than Portage 
du Fort or even Bryson. 

Be this as it may, Champlain had reached the end of 
his journey when he arrived at Tessouat's encampment. 
Vignan had lived with Tessouat for a whole season, and 
through him the white men were well received. At a 
council, or solemn feast, Champlain explained the pur- 
pose of his visit. He would have assistance from his 
hosts, in canoes and men, in order to proceed to the big 
lake that lay a hundred miles or more farther up the 
river, and which had already been visited by his friend, 
Nicholas de Vignan. 

Then the whole story of Vignan's duplicity came out, 
at the instance of Tessouat. That young man had never 
been as far as Lake Nipissing. He had been lying 
from the beginning about his discovery of a great lake 
at the sources of the Ottawa. He had never sailed up 
any river or down another that had brought him to the 
shores of a salt-water link between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific. His whole story had been a tissue of hearsays 
and direct falsehoods. 

The Indians pleaded with Champlain to have the 
impostor killed ; but Champlain, unheeding their advice, 
merely forced the miscreant to make confession. 

" If you have deceived me," said Champlain to 
Vignan, " confess it now and the past will be forgiven. 



288 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

But if you persist, you will soon be discovered, and then 
you shall be hanged." 

And, to save his neck, the rascal confessed on his 
knees that he had been guilty of the grossest treachery 
and falsehood, his only punishment, however, being, 
notwithstanding the importunity of Tessouat to have him 
killed, his abandonment at Montreal when Champlain 
returned to that rendezvous, accompanied by a fleet of 
forty canoes bound thither to sell their furs. 

Perhaps the most momentous of all of Champlain's 
explorations was his visit to the Hurons on the penin- 
sular region bounded by Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. 
On leaving Tessouat and his tribe, Champlain had pro- 
mised to revisit them and possibly pursue his explora-, 
tions further up the river. There was something of a 
contretemps in the preliminaries connected with his 
making such a visit. The church, in the person of 
Father le Caron, the Recollet, had entered the lists with 
the explorer — the mission of peace and evangelization 
as a counteracting force to the counsels of war, the over- 
coming of heathenism as a correlative to the subdual 
of the Iroquois. Champlain had promised the Canadian 
tribes to join them in a combined raid against the tribes 
south of the great lakes, while Father Caron had made 
up his mind to establish mission stations in the heart of 
the Huron country. The Canadian tribes assembled 
near Montreal, the explorer and the missionary being 
both present at the pow-wow. Champlain promised to 
join them with all the white men he could muster, while 
they promised in turn to mass a force of two thousand 
five hundred warriors for the projected invasion of the 
territory of the Five Nations. The evolution of coer- 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 289 

cion was now the order of the day, having taken pos- 
session of the white men as well as their swarthy allies. 
Champlain left the assembled throng for Quebec, to take 
measures with Pontgrave for the raising of a French 
detachment of sailors and settlers ; but when he returned 
he was treated to another taste of the red man's dupli- 
city. The throng had disappeared when he got back to 
Helen's Island : the Indians had left for their settle- 
ments, taking the intrepid Recollet with them. 

Nothing daunted, Champlain re-traversed his old route 
up the Ottawa with Etienne Brule, the first of the so- 
called coiireurs-de-bois, and another Frenchman. The 
two canoes he had were manned by ten Indians, and all 
went well with them until they had reached the settle- 
ment presided over by old Chief Tessouat. The line of 
the Canadian Pacific Railway runs alongside of the 
Ottawa from the site of Tessouat's village to the station 
of Mattawa, and it is sometimes possible for the passen- 
ger to identify the primeval landmarks which must have 
attracted Champlain as he poled and paddled and por- 
taged within the confines of this wondrous valley. 
These include the slow, sullen flow of the canal-like sec- 
tion of the river, itself called Deep River, as if defiant 
of the shoulders of the Laurentian slopes on the far side 
of its course. From the inflow of the little stream which 
goes by the name of Chalk River to the rapids of the 
Joachims and the Caribou, right up to the Deux Riv- 
ieres, nature seems to outrival itself at every point in 
its production of a changing picturesque ; and, when 
Champlain reached the mouth of the Mattawan he must 
have felt surprised at his own intrepidity as the first 
white man to thread the wondrous maze of hill and dale 



290 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

and woodland. Tessouat had done his best to dissuade 
him from visiting the Nipissings. 

" It grieves us to think of the hardships you must 
endure," was what the old chief said. " The Nipissings 
have weak hearts. They are good for nothing in war, 
but they kill us with charms and poison us ; and they 
will kill you, too." 

At the mouth of the Mattawan they were not more 
than thirty miles, as the crow flies, from Lake Nipissing. 
A detour was, however, decided upon, up the Mattawan 
and thence across country close to the lakelet of Nas- 
baussing, the well-trodden portage bringing them to the 
broad expanse of water somewhere near the site of the 
present town of North Bay. The first Indian village they 
struck was inhabited by a branch of the Nipissings, whose 
medicine-men were so much in evidence as to give some 
ground for Tessouat's opinion of the whole tribe, whom 
the Jesuits at a later date nicknamed the Sorcerers, 
though their incantations did not prevent Champlain and 
his company from enjoying their hospitality. The 
second group of Indians the explorer met — three hundred 
of them out on one of the blueberry barrens gathering 
their winter supply of small fruits — he himself nick- 
named " Les Cheveux Releves," on account of the fan- 
tastic way they had of dressing their hair as a kind of 
crowning glory to their tattooed bodies and painted 
armour. Less fierce in spirit than in looks, they invited 
Champlain and his men to visit them in their encamp- 
ments, and volunteered to show him the way to them 
on the far side of the Mer Douce, or Georgian Bay, 
down the French River and beyond the archipelago at 
its mouth. 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 291 

Those who have passed by steamboat along the lake- 
line of the county of Parry Sound have seen what Cham- 
plain saw from his canoe — a ragged shore with lone- 
some inlets and disconcerting groups of islands, on which 
time has wrought but little change within three hundred 
years, and on which commercial progress has left only 
a moderate impression. The route Champlain followed 
from Matchedash Bay turned southward and overland 
to the interior of peninsular Ontario, the explorer fol- 
lowing the track taken by Father le Caron through four 
Indian centres of population within the territory now 
included in Simcoe County. The Recollet had located 
himself at Carhagouha, and thither Champlain went to 
meet him and to take counsel with the congregating 
warriors to whom he had proffered assistance in the 
projected march against the Iroquois. He was in no 
way disappointed with his reception. The priest was 
overjoyed to greet him and to tell him all that he had 
been doing for his benighted parishioners. The tribes- 
men came in crowds from all parts ; and, when once 
they had satiated themselves with feasting over the 
arrival of the white men, and had paid due respect to the 
daily ministrations of their priest, Indian and European 
taking part in the celebration of the Mass and the sing- 
ing of Te Deum, the massing of a first contingent of 
warriors for the march overland from Lake Simcoe to 
Lake Ontario gave Champlain an opportunity of visiting 
many others of the Indian settlements, until he finally 
brought up at the largest of these, which went by the 
name of Cahiague. As a central rendezvous for the 
warriors the place was well chosen, it being situated near 
the site of the modern town of Orillia and in full view 
of Lake Simcoe. 



292 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

At length Etienne Brule was sent out with twelve 
Indians to hasten a promised contingent of five hundred 
Eries, when the festivities could no longer be prolonged 
for them at Cahiague. Across Lake Simcoe the flotilla 
of canoes sped, to reach the mouth of the Talbot, 
cross the portage to Balsam Lake, and thence to canoe 
and portage it to Lake Ontario by the trail of land and 
water terminating at the mouth of the river Trent. 
When they had crossed the great lake, it took them four 
days before they reached the nearest of the Iroquois' 
fortified encampments, situated, as it was, a few miles 
south of the eastern end of Oneida Lake, 

Here the explorer came in presence of a new experi- 
ence. He had never before seen a fortress built by 
Indians strong enough to resist a gunpowder onset. 
The fort was hexagonal in form, with an enclosure of 
four concentric rows of palisades, surmounted by a gal- 
lery from which the defenders could throw showers of 
arrows and stones from behind the upper timbers of the 
enclosing tree-trunks. A plentiful supply of water for 
drinking purposes and the quenching of fires ran all 
around in a continuous sluice which was fed from a 
pond on the far side of the fort. It was altogether the 
strongest structure Champlain had seen in his travels 
among the Indian tribes, and the only way he could 
think of overcoming its strength was by building rough 
timber towers from which, when they were dragged for- 
ward, the besiegers could overlook the upright ends of 
the enemy's palisades, and pour in upon the besieged 
their arrows or arquebuse balls. 

But it was all a case of teaching the European art of 
war to a parcel of excited children in articulo pugnac. 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 293 

The old way of attack was the best way to the bulk of 
Champlain's allies. Champlain's deadly weapon had 
bred in them a superstitious trust in its efficacy, which 
all their indiscretion of leaping and shouting and irregu- 
lar attack could not, as they thought, bring to naught. 
If the white man was not invulnerable, what was he 
more than they were themselves in war? And so they 
turned a deaf ear to Champlain's demands for more 
orderly fighting than they were accustomed to ; and 
became a prey to the coolness and strong surroundings 
of the besieged Iroquois. In four days the raid was at 
an end. The Huron allies had bemocked the methods 
of European warfare, and were forced to betake them- 
selves to flight towards their canoes, and to discredit, by 
the way, the trust they had put in the white man and his 
arquebuse. 

When the Huron warriors reached the other side of 
the great lake, Champlain had excellent opportunities of 
exploring the territory north and west of what is now 
the city of Kingston, during the hunting excursions of 
the returning warriors. On one of these excursions he 
lost his way in a labyrinth of woodland lakes, while in 
pursuit of natural history specimens ; and the account 
he has left of his belated wanderings from lake to stream 
and back again proves to his readers what a close 
observer he was even when his mind could not but have 
been distracted by the misfortune of not knowing where 
he was. After the third day he came out upon his allies, 
to his own and their relief, though it was not until the 
fourth of December he was able once more to join his 
good friend, Father le Caron, at Carhagouha. 

Champlain made good use of the winter months he 



294 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

had to spend on and around Lake Simcoe in companion- 
ship with the Recollet. The district that borders on 
Nottawasaga and Matchedash Bays was then the most 
thickly populated part of the peninsula. The tribes 
included the Cheveux Releves, the Tobacco Nation, and 
the Hurons proper, with the Neutral Nation in the 
vicinity of Niagara, and the Nipissings in the north. 
At the time of Champlain's visit all these were at peace 
with one another, and every opportunity was given him 
to pass from settlement to settlement, sometimes with the 
missionary and sometimes alone with his Indian guides, 
taking note of the peculiarities of each tribe and their 
means of subsistence. It was not a land flowing with 
milk and honey ; but he saw in the mildness of its 
climate, the fertility of its soil and the natural wealth 
in its timber and game resources, a locality suitable for 
colonization by thousands where hundreds were all it 
possessed. The failure of the incursion against the Iro- 
quois had for a time a dampening effect on the popu- 
larity of the paleface who did not fight with bow and 
arrow ; but the unhappy issue of the raid did not hinder 
crowds from following warrior and ecclesiastic as they 
passed from village to village with their message of glad 
tidings from the old world to the new. 

Vignan's falsehoods had not fully dissipated the dream 
of Champlain about that water-link between the oceans ; 
and on his return home the way he had come, to elude the 
Iroquois canoes that frequented the St. Lawrence route, 
he exacted from the Nipissings a pledge that they would 
join him in an excursion in search of that great prob- 
lematic waterway at some future day. Everywhere, as 
he passed on his way homeward, he invited the tribes- 



CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 295 

men of the great inland peninsula to bring their peltries 
to the annual fur market at Montreal, where there would 
be a chance of discussing what future action should be 
taken by French and Indian against their common foe 
of the Iroquois nations. The evolution had matured a 
common cause between French and Indian, and that 
common cause was no other than the origin of a second 
common cause being matured between the English and 
the Indian. Champlain's original impulse to protect 
himself while on his explorations, and his colony during 
his absence, had awakened ethical forces that have made 
of a great social evolution what it is for us to-day, after 
staining the continent with the dissonance of tribal wrath 
and bloodshed. 

The first chapters of this story of racial rage are given 
in Champlain's own writings, while the evolution takes 
up very many chapters of Canadian history. One of 
his volumes has already been referred to as having been 
published in 1613. This was preceded by his booklet of 
eighty pages, entitled: "About the Savages, or the 
Voyage of Samuel Champlain, of Brouages, made in 
New France." His last work was published in 1632, 
and is entitled : " Voyages in New France, or Canada, 
made by Sieur de Champlain, Captain of the King's 
Marine Service ; and all the discoveries made by the 
same from 1603 to 1629." And when we examine this 
last volume we learn what Champlain was as an ex- 
plorer. His explorations in Canada were completed in 
1616. At that date he had seen more of Canada than 
any other white man, having studied the fauna and flora 
of the country, examined and experimented with its 
soils, noted the marvel of the resources of its woodlands, 



296 CHAMPLAIN, THE EXPLORER 

lakes and rivers, making map-drawings of its lake-shore 
and ocean indentations, not forgetting to dififerentiate 
the tribal traits, manners and customs of the aborigines. 
In a word, Champlain as an explorer has to be made as 
much of as he has been as a colonizer and governor ; 
and well may he be called, beyond his being the founder 
of a city, the father of two countries that are all but one. 



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